


we're caught up in the appeal

by wolfatthedoor



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, domestic af supersquad, domestic superlane is my Ultimate Jam, intense pictionary, kara cannot find her chill, kara truly deserves a break, like cat supports superlane so hard but she has a reputation to keep, like my child is trying okay, shipper!cat, small cameos by some dccu characters, starts as karolsen but only as grounds for breaking up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-17
Updated: 2017-08-10
Packaged: 2018-07-19 18:20:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 51,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7372522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfatthedoor/pseuds/wolfatthedoor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"in hindsight, kara has to acknowledge that this thing with james was bound to crash and burn faster than the red tornado."</p><p>a superlane fic in three acts.</p><p>or the one where kara falls in love with lucy but tries to deny it and alex has a duty as The Older Sister.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. breakeven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alright, alright kiddos. so in broad terms, this chapter deals mostly with a little bit of plot ((which i sort of borrowed from marvel shhh)) and the whole break up thing ((ftr, i really like james and kara as a couple and tried to make them justice)). it's not heavy on superlane, but i thought necessary to establish the whole tone and theme of this fic. i kinda tried to stick to the episodes dynamic. now, without further ado, please have a go.

“Hey,” James says all smoothly over her earpiece. Kara has to smile--she’s an alien but she’s not immune to James’ charm--even if she’s in the middle of a fight with one of the last remaining Fort Rozz escapees. This one turns into a huge freaking lizard, and Kara would think it pretty cool if it wasn’t for the damn tail that seems to be as strong as one of Kara’s own legs.

“Hey yourself,” she grunts her answer.

“What’s going on?”

“I’m a little bit –” Kara struggles to block punches and sneaks behind the lizard's back, trapping the tail with her hands. The tail wiggles violently and honestly, Kara deserves a break.

“Kara?”

She can hear J'onn in the distance and getting closer. After pushing the lizard towards the desert between both of them, J'onn left to look for backup under Kara’s insistence that she could manage by herself. But after a pretty exhausting fight, the closer J'onn gets, the more relieved Kara is because she may or may not be getting winded. As soon as he touches down, he shoots the lizard with a tranquilizer making it stiffen and then relax. Kara sighs and drops the tail.

“Sorry, I was busy. What were you saying?” Kara wipes her hands on her skirt while J'onn receives the caravan of DEO agents in charge of cleaning up.

“Today is date night, remember?” James says, and Kara can almost hear the defeat in his voice as he realizes that, in fact, she didn’t remember.

“Crap,” she exhales and looks at J'onn. He narrows his eyes and then nods.

“Go, we’ve got this covered.”

“I’ll be there in 15,” Kara tells James and shoots up to the sky.

//

She lands on a roof across the movie theater where she was supposed to meet James 40 minutes ago, changes, and walks down the emergency ladder as fast as she can without superspeed. She jogs a little to the theater and spots James near the entrance, two tickets in his hand.

“Hi, I’m so sorry, it’s just there was this inconvenience,” Kara starts moving her arms around herself trying to explain the magnitude of the _inconvenience_.

James smiles, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “It’s okay. You’re buying the next tickets, though. The next showing is in 10 minutes.”

Kara smiles, gives James a kiss, and walks to buy the tickets. Tonight, the stellar is George A. Romero’s _Night of the Living Dead_. A few weeks ago James had mentioned a horror cycle of old movies that was showing at the theater closest to CatCo and convinced Kara to go with him. Kara’s only condition was that they wouldn’t watch _Jaws_.

James walks up to her while she’s paying and offers her two hotdogs.

He shrugs when Kara raises her eyebrow. “Figured you might be hungry after your… _inconvenience_.”

Kara smiles brightly and wolfs down a hotdog in three bites.

They settle in their seats, the popcorn between them, James with a large soda and Kara with two pretzels. The moment the movie starts, James sits a little closer to the edge and gazes up to the screen. Kara is content with just watching him and smiles.

“You’re missing the plot,” he whispers.

“Okay,” she sits back and looks to the screen. She actually pays attention to the movie for 20 minutes or so, right until the iconic line “ _They are coming to get you, Barbara_ ,” and then she just falls asleep. She doesn’t do it on purpose, but she guesses a fight with a giant lizard takes a toll on everyone.

She wakes up to James shaking her shoulder and applying more force than anyone else would need to wake up. She snaps both eyes open, inhales deeply, and looks at the screen. Yup, it’s black, and the room is almost empty.

She turns back to James and the apologies start tumbling out from her mouth. “I’m so sorry, James. It’s just that – you know, fighting an alien lizard is tiresome and I didn’t really mean to fall asleep, I –”

James raises a hand and stops her rambling. “Let’s get you home, Supergirl,” he says and stands up. Kara hangs her head and stands as well.

James insists on driving Kara home, seeing how tired she is. Kara doesn’t deny him. The ride is silent, uncomfortably so. Kara tries to make conversation, but every time she opens her mouth to say something she gets the feeling that James might not answer.

When they stop outside her building, Kara leans in and kisses him goodnight. James gives her a small smile, but says nothing. As Kara walks up the stairs to her apartment she remembers something Cat said to her, and thinks that maybe she can’t have her day job, her super job, and a relationship all at once just yet.

//

Kara drags her feet through the DEO the next day looking for Alex. She hasn’t had an easy morning because work at CatCo has been overflowing and James hasn’t spoken to her about anything that isn’t work. The tension between them is palpable, even Winn noticed and asked her if everything was alright in paradise; thankfully Kara could only see friendly affection in his eyes rather than that stupid hope she used to see. Kara explained and Winn patted her shoulder with sympathy, telling her James would come around and they would work it out. Kara, for one, is not very sure about that. So, she ripped her shirt open and flew to the DEO to escape her awful morning and take a break from CatCo.

Entering the control room, Kara sees Lucy standing behind Vazquez and glancing at the screens before them. Kara imagines they’re tracking the last Fort Rozz occupants and supervising them. As if sensing her entrance, Lucy turns to look at her and cocks an eyebrow. Kara shakes her head and smiles.

“Hi,” she says when she’s close enough.

“Supergirl,” Lucy greets. Vazquez looks at her and nods politely.

Kara just stands there saying nothing more. Part of her wants to ask for advice with James, ask her if him avoiding all confrontation is normal, ask her what are the signs she needs to look for so she can salvage her relationship with James. However, Kara bites her tongue and says nothing, just stands there buzzing with all the doubts clouding her mind.

Lucy looks at her curiously. “I don’t remember calling you in, Supergirl.”

Kara bobs her head up and down. “Yeah, no, I was just – I wanted to drop by and see Alex.”

“Well,” Lucy smiles, “Agent Danvers is in the labs.”

“Yeah, right, of course,” Kara says but makes no move to leave. Kara knows asking about James would be unfair to Lucy. Yes, they've grown together after Lucy's promotion, but Kara thinks they might not be quite _there_ yet.

She must spend a lot of time being oddly quiet, because Lucy calls her attention by touching her arm. “Kara? Is everything alright?”

“What? Yeah, just had a bad morning,” she smiles. “I’ll just go look for Alex,” she points with her thumb behind her. Lucy nods and drops her hand.

Kara finds Alex elbow deep in what could only be described as ‘green goo.’ Kara makes a disgusted noise to announce her presence and Alex turns, her white lab coat splashed with green.

“I can think of better ways to spend my day,” Alex says, going back to work.

“What is that?” Kara asks, stepping behind Alex and placing her chin on her sister’s shoulder.

“I don’t have a clear idea,” Alex says. She holds a bit of goo in her gloved palm and weighs it. “One of the aliens in the second level put an egg, but when it hatched _this_ came out.”

“So, is it like–what? Organic waste?” Kara ventures.

“Maybe. Or maybe it’s just matter.”

Kara hums and steps back. Alex goes to place everything in a glass recipient and closes it hermetically. She gets rid of her gloves and shrugs her coat off.

“I need a shower,” she mumbles.

Kara sits down on one of the examination tables and swings her feet back and forth.

“Where’s J'onn?”

“Dealing with General Lane after yesterday’s incident,” Alex says with a small grimace.

“He’s being difficult again?”

Alex nods. “He forgets easily, apparently.”

“Well, at least we have Lucy on our side now,” Kara says. Alex hums her agreement and then looks at her.

“What are you doing here, anyways? Aren’t you supposed to be running Cat Grant’s show?”

Kara snorts. “That’s not my actual job.”

“And yet you do it anyways,” Alex sits down next to her and bumps her shoulder. “C'mon, what’s up?”

Kara sighs. “This morning sucked.”

“Why? I thought you’d be on a better mood after a date with James last night.”

“Yeah,” Kara grimaces before continuing. “That’s part of why this morning sucked.”

Alex raises an eyebrow, prompting her to continue.

“For starters, I forgot we had a date, so I was late. Like, really late. And then, when we were finally watching the movie, I fell asleep. And I didn’t even know when it happened, I just fell asleep.”

“Well, you fought an alien lizard earlier that day, Kara. I think it’s perfectly normal for you to be tired.”

“Yeah, I know, but I can’t shake the feeling that I’m being a bad girlfriend, you know? I keep showing up late to dates, or cancelling them altogether, I fall asleep during movies, and if I’m not flying around the city, then I am working late at CatCo,” Kara throws her arms up in defeat. “I don’t know, maybe James deserves more… consistency.”

“Kara,” Alex says in that soothing tone that drips with sympathy and makes Kara want to hide in her sister’s arms for a while. “Has James said anything to you?”

“No.”

“Okay. So, what’s the plan?” Alex holds her hand.

Kara looks at her pointedly. “Alex, you have to say it.”

“I am an adult, Kara, I won’t say it.”

Kara makes that puppy face, the one she uses to bribe Alex into giving her the last piece of pizza, and pouts a little. “You have to say it.”

Alex sighs. “What’s the plan, _Stan_?”

Kara smiles, but it's short-lived. “I don’t know.”

“Sure you don’t?”

“I don’t want to lose him, Alex,” Kara almost whines. “But he never says anything when I show up late, and today he only talked to me about work. It’s like he understands but at the same he knows he won’t have my full attention. I don’t know what to do.”

“I think James doesn’t say anything because he knows you’ve got a lot on your shoulders, Kara,” Alex pats her leg. “But I also think you don’t deserve being torn between a relationship and your jobs."

“So I have to choose,” Kara says and has to bite back that Clark never had to choose.

“Just take it slow, Supergirl. Don’t try to run before you can walk.”

//

Apparently, the world is out to get Kara Danvers and her, already in danger, relationship.

Kara finally shows up on time for dinner. James and her haven’t really talked about the bumps in their relationship, but Kara is counting on him to understand the situation. They are sitting face to face in a nice, not very well known, candlelit restaurant and James hasn’t stopped smiling, and Kara feels giddy all the way to her toes. All in all, Kara thinks maybe she can balance out everything, but then she needs to remember not to talk too soon because chaos always ensures.

Kara feels her cellphone vibrate in the back pocket of her jeans and grimaces. James must have an idea because he drops his fork and leans back in his chair. Kara fishes out her phone, dread spreading all over her.

“It’s Alex,” she starts, half standing up and half looking at James. “I need to take this, it’s im– could be something –”

James nods. “Sure.”

Kara stands up and walks briskly to the entrance of the restaurant to answer the call. “Alex? What’s going on?”

“Hey, Kara,” Alex says way too casually. “You busy?”

Kara makes a face and fiddles with her glasses. “Well, no. Not really, I mean? I was just having dinner with James. What’s up?”

“Oh, God,” Alex sighs, and Kara can tell she’s going into full business mode. “Okay, remember that green matter that came out of an alien egg?”

“The one you were studying a few days ago?”

“Yeah,” Alex laughs humorlessly. “Turns out that thing is not _just_ matter but some sort of symbiotic organism. It latches onto someone and takes control of the host. It got hold of several agents at the DEO and fled.”

“What do you mean fled?”

“I mean it escaped the DEO and it’s on the streets wrecking everything in sight,” Alex deadpans.

“Oh, Rao,” Kara tenses. “I’m on my way.”

Kara turns around and finds James already exiting the restaurant, a bag of leftover food in his hand.

“I figured we would have to cut dinner short,” he says.

Kara just nods. She gives him a kiss and runs into the nearest alley to change into her suit.

Kara lands in the desert, just outside of the DEO, where Alex, J'onn, Lucy, and Vazquez are gearing up and directing a team into the vans.

“Supergirl,” J'onn approaches her. “This particular mission requires a little bit of _finesse_.”

Kara looks at him completely not amused, but she can hear Lucy and Vazquez’s muffled snickering. Alex walks up to them and shows her the biology of the organism in her tablet.

“Okay, here’s what we know,” Alex starts, while Lucy and Vazquez also approach them and they all make a little team-back circle. “It's a species of symbiont that blocks every reasonable part of the brain of the host and reduces them to their most primal instincts,” Alex starts.

“Eating, shelter, hostile responses,” J'onn provides. “Ever seen anything like that before?” He asks Kara.

Kara shakes her head and looks at Alex’s tablet. “How does it interact with the host? Is it like a Black Mercy thing?”

“No, it melds with the host, becomes one with it. It creates an outward shield, if you may, and traps the host inside. It’s like a cocoon.”

“Okay,” Kara nods slowly. “How do we stop it?”

“Not with brute force,” Alex tells her. “If we provoke it, it might get more hostile and become a bigger danger.”

“We approach the hosts and trap them, then we sedate them and bring them back to the DEO,” Vazquez resumes.

“And here, Alex and the rest of the doctors will find a way to liberate the hosts from the organism,” Lucy finishes.

Kara nods along. “Okay, where do we start?”

“That’s the thing, Supergirl. They don’t travel in a pack. They separated as soon as they got to the city,” Alex says.

“How many are there?”

“Took half a dozen agents from here. Let’s hope it didn’t find a way to latch onto anymore people,” J'onn says.

Kara squares her shoulders. “Alright. So we split up?”

“We don’t know how strong they are, better to take them one at a time.”

Kara thinks that sounds suspiciously like a sleepless night.

//

Of course they don’t catch them all the first night, that would be way too easy. Alex and J'onn weren’t kidding when they said they didn’t know how strong the symbiotic organism joined with the host would be. Kara had to punch one unconscious and hope that the host wasn't on the receiving end of any of the hits. They had to chase another one for at least half an hour, until Lucy and Alex successfully trapped it in an alley, and Vazquez had a clean shot to put it to sleep.

They also found out that those things were sneaky as hell, and Kara and J'onn had to fly around the city at least twice just to find one of them. At around 4 am, when both Vazquez and Alex were dragging their feet around and their eyes were beginning to drop more constantly, they decided to call it a night and restart the search early morning.

Kara’s arms and shoulders are _aching_ , and she thinks that’s never happened before while she still feels the soft hum of her powers running through her body. She stumbles, tired to the bone, into her apartment and finds a small package waiting for her on her kitchen island. She bends over and recognizes the clothes she was wearing before all hell broke loose and the bag of leftover food James left the restaurant with. She sighs and grabs both of them, sitting down on the couch and diving into the food. She considers calling James, but imagines he will be fast asleep. She takes forkfuls of pasta until she’s too tired to even lift her arm. She sinks into the cushions and closes her eyes, drifting into dreamless sleep.

Kara wakes up to something buzzing in her side. She sits up, blinks the sleep out of her eyes while searching for her phone. She picks up without checking the caller ID.

“Yeah,” she yawns around her greeting.

“Hey,” it’s Alex. “We’ve found another.”

“What time is it?”

“Almost seven.”

Kara sighs. “Alright, I’m on my way,” she has half the mind to fly through the open window and not through the wall.

The early morning air wakes her up, and by the time she’s around downtown, Alex texts her the location of the symbiont. Kara can see the tactical formation the DEO vans are performing even before she gets to the site and hopes that this one is at least easier than the rest.

The DEO team settles around a warehouse, agents filtering out of the vans and standing guard at the entrance. Kara lands with enough force to shake the DEO vans and a small crater appear in the ground. Alex gives her a pointed look, but Kara shakes it off because she is tired and she’s supposed to be in CatCo to proof read today’s Tribune lifestyle section in half an hour.

“Remind me again how this thing broke out?”

Alex looks surprised and a little bit guilty. Lucy answers for her.

“Alex was experimenting on the organism, and it reacted to electricity. It then jumped into the nearest agent and took hold of him.”

“Wait a moment,” Kara says and holds Alex’s arm. “That thing could’ve jumped into you.”

“Yes, but it didn’t. And now it’s running loose. We need to bring it in again.”

Alex follows J'onn to the entrance, while Kara and Lucy stay behind.

“I see being stubborn is a family trait," Lucy teases. "Supergirl, after you,” she extends a hand.

Kara shakes her head and scoffs. She stops in front of the door and places her hands against it. She turns to look at Alex and J'onn.

Alex nods. “On my mark. Three, two, one.”

Kara pushes the door and it leaps from its hinges, falling useless to the ground. She marches into the warehouse with Alex hot on her heels and J'onn by her side. She listens to the tactical team raid the warehouse behind them.

She uses her x-ray vision, but certain spots and corners are lined with lead. “Alex? Where to?”

Alex is about to answer when they hear a screech. Kara grimaces and covers her ears with her hands and staggers a bit. J'onn groans in pain. Alex and other two agents stand around them, covering them.

Kara can hear Lucy calling for them in her earpiece, but she can’t listen much over the screeching. She looks up and places a hand on J'onn’s arm; he places his other hand on her shoulder, and both of them stand to their full height.

“Are you okay?” J'onn asks when the screeching is over.

Kara is about to answer when she catches movement out of the corner of her eye. She turns a little and catches the symbiont jumping in the air going straight at them. Kara reacts, shoving J'onn out of the way and tackling Alex to the ground, safely beneath her. The other two agents disperse looking for cover.

J'onn gets the upper hand, surprising the symbiont from behind, and trapping both of its hands in a lock. Alex scurries away from under Kara and circles the commotion, looking for a clean shot. When the symbiont catches sight of Alex pointing at it with a gun, it thrashes more violently against J'onn’s hold, knocking the back of its head straight into J'onn face, breaking free and advancing towards Alex like a predator. J'onn falls back and is too slow to get up again. Alex shoots the symbiont, and Kara watches the gun go off once, twice, thrice, and the thing is not stopping.

Kara scorches the ground between Alex and the symbiont to distract it, and then flies straight into it, sending both of them crashing through a wall. Well, Kara figures there goes the finesse J'onn asked her to keep. Kara raises herself from the ground and drives her elbow right into the symbiont head, hoping to knock it out, but after the second hit, the symbiont escapes her attack and skitters to the nearest wall to climb it and gain some advantage.

Kara levitates and shoots her heat vision, trying to catch the creature that's jumping around, but missing every time the mark. The symbiont perches itself on a pipe hanging from the roof of the warehouse, and Kara takes that as the only opportunity to attack. She knocks head first into it, forming an indent in the roof and making the warehouse tremble, and then takes hold of whatever part of symbiont she can and directs it straight into the ground with enough force to snap anything in half, but it barely fazes the creature.

Alex and J'onn come running, Alex carrying the tranquilizers without the gun. Kara stands up and holds the symbiont down, J'onn coming to her aid. Between both of them manage to subdue it long enough for Alex to stab two tranquilizers in the general area of the symbiont’s neck.

Kara and J'onn let go until the symbiont is truly unconscious. Kara dusts her hands off, and assesses both J'onn and Alex for any injuries.

“Status?” Lucy demands over the earpiece. She sounds a bit frantic.

“Target immobilized,” Alex assures.

“Sending a team in for transport,” Lucy tells them before signing off.

“Are you okay?” Kara asks both of them.

J'onn nods stiffly, placing a hand on Alex’s shoulder. Alex nods as well, breathing heavily.

They wait until a team recovers the symbiont and then walk out of the warehouse. Lucy is already yelling orders to move the symbiont into a truck that’s equipped with a small quarantine station, and pack everything up for the journey back to the DEO. Kara watches the sun come up on the horizon and closes her eyes, enjoying the first rays of sunlight as they graze her skin. She feels warm everywhere, from her forehead to her toes, and she’s hyper aware of the sun’s effect on her. The tips of her fingers tingle with power, her muscles twitch with hidden strength, and if she breathes deep enough she can distinguish the leftover smell of nightly dew.

Kara enjoys the only slow moment she’s had in the last twelve hours, and considers only fitting the calm comes with the sunrise. She feels Alex stand next to her and smiles. Her hand searches for Alex’s and holds it firmly.

“Ready to face the world again, Supergirl?”

Kara opens her eyes and meets Alex’s soft smile and pride in her eyes. Kara nods, when Alex looks at her like she knows she can do anything.

Kara escorts the vans all the way back to the DEO, watching from the skies. She stays close to the small party that navigates the symbiont through the halls of the facility, and then goes into the control room for a last debriefing.

“There might more of them,” Lucy warns her. “We’ll try to bring them in by our own means, but we might need you.”

Kara nods. “Yeah, it’s okay. How’s the ‘freeing people from an organic parasite’ business going on?”

“Alex is working on it. So are a team of doctors under her command.”

“Let me know if they find anything?”

Lucy nods. Kara hugs her goodbye and flies towards CatCo, hoping that nothing has caught fire there.

//

Kara experiences two weeks of running back and forth between the DEO and CatCo, in which she sees little of James. If she’s not out catching and fighting hostile symbiotic organisms, she’s running around CatCo making sure everything is in order and reading literally everything that goes into the Tribune numbers.

Between making several DEO related calls in the middle of a work day and coming back to pick up where she left, Kara begins to get sloppy. It’s not on purpose, and it doesn’t go unnoticed by either Winn or James. Actually, the only time Kara sees James and has a conversation with him that is not interrupted, James tells her to be careful, that she’s leaving behind a lot of loose ends that can compromise her later. Kara tries to pay attention to that, but she’s starting to run on her reserves and she has way more pressing stuff to think about than leaving clues big enough to get caught and exposed.

Winn seems to be nervous for her, covering after her and telling lies to Cat in her behalf. Nothing he hasn’t done before, but Winn insists Cat is getting more ruthless.

“Seriously,” Winn tells her one day when they’re going back to the bullpen from their cave. “It’s like she’s a hound and she’s after a trail. And that trail is you being Supergirl,” he whispers the last part.

“Winn, it’s fine. She’s already seen the two of us in the same room, she knows we can’t be one and the same. Plus, I don’t spend much time with her these days, so she can’t be suspicious,” Winn looks like he doesn’t believe a single word she’s just said. “Well, maybe not _that_ suspicious.”

“I’m just saying, she’s onto something. She knows something.”

“She’s Cat Grant. She obviously knows something, that’s her superpower.”

And among her different superpowers, Cat is also a master in being in the right place at the right time. When Kara opens the door to her office, Cat is already waiting for her, lounging in her chair as if this were her own office. Kara stands very still with the door handle cracking under the pressure of her hand. Winn smashes into Kara’s back and immediately makes an excuse to run away after realizing that Cat is in Kara’s office and she doesn’t look very pleased. Kara is gonna get back at him later for leaving her to die alone.

“Miss Grant,” Kara says and eases a smile into her face, releasing her grip on the handle.

“Close the door, Kara. I imagine this is a conversation you might want to have in private.”

Kara imagines she doesn’t want to have _this conversation_ , whatever it is about, in any setting. Nor ever, for that matter.

“Kara,” Cat draws out her name, standing up and pacing around the room with grace. “Imagine my surprise when the cleaning staff brought me that,” she points to the chair behind the desk, just out of Kara’s line of sight, “among with a cardigan that I distinctly remember seeing you wear this morning.”

Kara swallows and fiddles with her glasses. She walks up to her chair and looks down at the seat, her heart skipping a beat. Right there is one of the boots that go along with the Supergirl suit and, indeed, the cardigan she was wearing this morning and that she forgot where she tossed it during one of the changes into the suit. Kara wants to slap herself for being so careless and distracted, but she knows she’s got a bigger problem with Cat here.

“Imagine then,” Cat continues, “my displeasure in realizing that not only I had to buy the cleaning staff’s silence but also that you lied to me, right to my face.”

“Miss Grant, I –”

“I don’t appreciate being lied to, Kara,” Cat starts, and Kara knows she has to stop her before she goes on any further. She also knows there’s no point in denying anything, even if she's itching to tell Cat another lie, just to see if she can get away with it.

“Cat, listen,” Kara says with what Alex refers to as her Supergirl Voice. “I lied to you and kept this secret from you because I didn’t know how you were going to react. You made me choose between my job or telling you the truth, and I couldn’t take that risk, not again. I need this job, Cat, but I also need to keep this… other side of me hidden. I can’t have people knowing about it, it’s too dangerous.”

Kara stares at Cat, willing her to understand. Kara still isn’t sure if Cat’s going to keep her secret, but she has to take a leap of faith. After the chaotic couple of weeks she's had, she needs a break, more people on her corner that can help her with the load–-not that Cat has never been in her corner--but she really can't deal with Cat wanting to expose her to the rest of the world.

“I know this is huge for you, and that you’ve been after this for a while,” Kara starts, making an effort to convince Cat. Kara extends her hands towards Cat, as if laying herself open, telling Cat that she means this, that there will be no more lies. “But you said I changed you, changed the way you understand and conceive hope. You've changed me too, Cat. You've helped me to get acquainted with this job, gave me perspective, and I trust you. I - I need you to keep this secret," Kara pleads with her to reason, because if Cat Grant publishes a piece revealing Supergirl's identity, Alex is going to flip and freak out and possibly find a not-so-legal way to disappear Cat from the face of the Earth. If the world knows the person behind the symbol, behind the armor, it would only be a matter of time before her family is targeted. Kara also wants to avoid Clark chewing her ear off for being sloppy and careless.

Her desperation must show on her face, because Cat takes pity of her as she nods, avoiding her eyes. “Fair enough,” she takes a deep breath. “Your secret is safe, Supergirl," she says the title a little mockingly. "But you really have to be more careful.”

Kara sags with relief and exhales a laugh. Cat doesn’t look impressed, but she also doesn’t press the matter further.

“I expect you to keep working at full productivity. Me knowing you are Supergirl is in no way an excuse,” Cat deadpans.

Kara smiles. “Thank you, Cat."

//

After the second week mark from the first outbreak of symbionts passes, Kara makes a decision. She’s been all over the place recently and she knows it’s because she refuses to address one problem at a time and instead tries to solve them all at once. She also realizes that she’s been avoiding James at all costs, minimizing their contact in an effort to clear her head and take a rational decision. Kara is surprised at James’ insistent effort to not have a confrontation, but then she remembers he literally moved out from Metropolis just to avoid a messy break up with Lucy. Kara can’t really blame him--she’s also thought about running away. Going back to the Danvers’ place by the beach, she’s sure Eliza will appreciate the company.

Alex has been on hunting and cleaning duties with J'onn and Lucy, easing a little bit of weight off her shoulders. Cat has been nice enough to turn a really blind eye on her absences from CatCo. Winn has been directing her missions with the efficiency of a pro. And that only leaves Kara to consider the state of her relationship with James and see what’s salvageable and what’s best to leave alone.

She talks about it at great lengths with Alex because she’s the only one Kara truly listens to; also because she can’t really approach Lucy about it. Alex suggests that it might not have worked out because Kara is dedicated to both her jobs and there was never time for weekend-long dates and dinners that stretched well into the night. However, Kara reckons that they managed to work around that during the first months. She knows she tried, knows James tried really hard, but one cancelled dinner date turned into several, and Kara has a feeling James just preferred to stop trying and let everything run its messy and unfortunate course.

In hindsight, Kara has to acknowledge that this thing with James was bound to crash and burn faster than the Red Tornado. They worked great as friends, and somewhere along that line Kara convinced herself that it would be the same if they were a couple, and Kara found out the hard way she was wrong.

She shows up in James’ office one afternoon, and James looks quite surprised to see her there.

“Hey,” he says.

Kara smiles softly and walks up to him to kiss his cheek. “Are you busy tomorrow night?”

“No. What’d you have in mind?”

“Dinner?”

James smiles broadly and charmingly. Kara can’t help but feel those same butterflies when she saw him smile for the first time. “I’m in.”

“Great,” she kisses him and walks out of his office, already mentally getting ready.

Alex gives her some sort of pep talk pre-break up and Kara thinks she would’ve been better without it.

“Okay, Kara, you love the guy and James loves you,” Alex starts.

Kara fidgets with her fingers and looks up to the ceiling to prevent tears from showing. “You’re not helping, Alex,” she says between gritted teeth.

“No, listen to me,” Alex takes her hand and squeezes hard enough for Kara to feel it. “I’m not saying how, I’m just saying you guys clearly have a lot of affection for each other. It doesn’t matter that your relationship didn’t work out because you’ll still have each other in your lives.”

“But what if this happens with every single one of my relationships, Alex? What if I’m just not cut out for this thing?”

“Oh, Kara,” Alex envelops her in a hug and Kara buries her head in her sister’s neck allowing the tears to fall.

“I promise it won’t always be like this,” Alex rubs circles on her back. “I promise you will find someone who lives the same kind of life you do and you’ll make it work.”

“Yeah, where am I gonna find that person?”

“Hey,” Alex pokes her side. “Anything can happen. I mean, you fell from the sky.”

//

The restaurant Kara picks is a little, hipster hole in the wall that serves small portions and doesn't bring the bread basket until the first dish is placed in the table. Kara asks James about work just to keep him talking and tries not to drag too much attention to herself. She hums and nods at the right places and considers asking for a second serving of lasagna before she's even finished with the first.

Eventually, James has gone through everything important at work and their conversation reaches a lull. Kara fiddles with her glass of water to keep her hands from flapping around the table and breaking something. Finally, when she can't take the silence anymore, she sets her hands down on her lap and looks at James.

“James,” she sighs. James lowers his fork and looks at her with all of his attention. “I don’t think this is working.”

“Well, if you’re hungry we could go to that burger food truck downtown that you love,” he says, and Kara has to smile because honestly, this man is charming to no end.

“No, I don’t mean the food. Which is delicious, by the way. I would have never tried this place by myself.”

James raises one eyebrow and waits.

Kara sighs again. “I think this isn’t the way to carry on a relationship. You deserve way better than cancelled dinner dates and half movie nights, and someone whose attention is not divided into you and whatever happens around the city.”

James leans over and takes her hand. “Kara, I don’t care about –”

Kara shakes her head. “No, listen. I care for you, I really do, but I can’t – I can’t keep beating myself up for forgetting we have a date or feeling guilty for cancelling every time there's an emergency. If I'm not doing DEO business, I'm working late at CatCo. And James, these past weeks we barely even saw each other and we work in the same floor!"

James falls back into his chair and nods slowly. "You’re breaking up with me.”

Kara grimaces. “I am?”

“Kara, listen to me. This is the one thing you don’t have to feel guilty about, okay? I know I haven’t been exactly stellar, particularly these weeks when you had everything pressing down on you.”

Kara can feel the burning in the back of her throat as the prelude for tears. Soon enough, her vision clouds and she finds herself sniffing.

James takes both her hands and breathes deeply. Kara looks at him and she can see tears forming in his eyes as well. “It’s fine, Kara, I understand.”

“You do?”

“I do. But Kara, I don’t want to lose you. Can we be friends, at least?”

Kara chuckles and feels a tear run down her cheek, which James is fast to clean with his thumb.

“I care a lot about you, James Olsen,” she says, looking into his eyes. James smiles in the most charming manner he knows and Kara feels a tug in her heart. She thinks it would’ve been amazing if they had managed to work it out.

They agree on skipping dessert and splitting the tab, even after Kara insists on paying. They walk out of the restaurant and, in a loss of anything to say, Kara hugs James. He hugs her back fiercely; Kara feels the way his arms tense around her and she places her head against his chest, listening to his heartbeat. Kara's always liked his heartbeat because it's always steady; however, this time, she swears she can hear the sadness clouding the beats--they seem slower, more languid. She inhales deeply and extracts herself from his arms. She tries not to think about the way her heartbeat fills in the silences of his and how both seem to sound sad.

"I'll see you around, Supergirl," he smiles.

"I'll see you," she returns the smile, but she feels the tears forming in her eyes yet again.

//

When she gets home, Alex is waiting for her with two pints of Ben & Jerry's. Alex looks up when Kara slams the door behind her, and scoots over in the couch to give Kara a spot to sit on. Kara flops on the couch, hearing, rather than feeling, one of its legs crack. Kara says nothing, crosses her arms, and stares at the paused screen. She notices Alex was watching _Brooklyn Nine Nine_ , probably thinking that Kara would be in a sulky mood after dinner.

Alex makes a show of looking at the door frame, which is a little indented on the wall of the apartment, inspecting the state of the couch, and then looking back at Kara. "Okay, considering this is an extenuating circumstance, I'm paying for those."

Kara huffs and reaches for a pint and a spoon.

Alex places a hand on her thigh. "How did it go?"

"Great. Amazing. Spectacular," Kara says around a mouthful of ice cream. She grimaces a little because she sounds bitter and not at all like an adult. Plus, sarcasm is not really her strong suit.

"Kara."

Kara sighs and drops the spoon. "He understood. He said it was fine and that he understood."

"Then it went as fine as you can expect it to go," Alex points out.

Kara breaks there and lets out a sob. "But if he understood and I tried, why couldn't we work it out? What did I do wrong?"

Alex straightens and immediately wraps her arms around Kara. Kara holds onto the pint of ice cream and rests her head on Alex's shoulder. "Nothing, Kara. You did nothing wrong. You tried and he understood, but it just wasn't enough, you know? Sometimes that's all we get. Maybe the timing was wrong, maybe the intentions were wrong, maybe even James was the wrong person. But nothing you did, Kara, was wrong. 

"You're special, Kara. You've always been. You carry a burden that no one can understand. You go out there and save the world and expect nothing in return; and after you're finished, you go to CatCo and prevent a crisis like it's nothing. I know it's hard being torn between a hero and a normal person, but Kara, you've been doing your best since always. You are good at what you do. You," Alex leans back a little to catch Kara's eye, "are good, Kara. And I could not be more proud of you."

Kara lets a few tears fall and settles back into Alex's shoulder. Alex kisses her head, and they stay that way for a while. Kara's always known that her favorite heartbeat is Alex because it's strong, constant, and soothing. It's what kept her rooted to this world during the first months of her arrival. It's what lulled her to sleep for countless nights. It's what she searches the moment she steps into the DEO. Alex is her rock, her only constant, the one person she cannot live without. Kara waits until their heartbeats are synchronized and sits up, wipes her cheeks, smiling weakly.

"I love you," she says in Kryptonian.

Alex smiles and bumps her shoulder with her fist. "I love you," she answers in Kryptonian as well. "Are you gonna share that?" Alex switches back to English and points to the pint melting in Kara's hands.

Kara chuckles and reaches for the other spoon, placing the ice cream between them and settling against Alex's side. Alex presses play, and they watch _Brooklyn Nine Nine_ until they fall asleep.

//

Kara doesn't know how, but she finds the strength to wake up and go to work the following morning. She stands by her window for a good 20 minutes with her eyes closed, feeling the sun on her skin and her powers thrumming quietly through her. She inhales and the sharp smell of her neighbor's fresh coffee reaches her nose. She exhales and opens her eyes; she focuses her sight and can see the edge of the city. She squares her shoulders, realizing the world is still turning.

She remembers part of the words she said to J'onn right before making up her mind about flying Fort Rozz into space herself: her mother didn't send her here to fall in love and live the American life. Alura sent her here to protect Kal-El, and since Kara was too late to accomplish that mission, she decided to become another protector of the Earth. She decided to protect and fight alongside Alex, she decided to become a symbol and a beacon of hope to National City. This is everything Kara is here for, falling in love is just an added bonus, or in this case, _not_ a bonus. Kara knows this is her song and it's not over yet.

Figuring she cannot be Supergirl for the whole day, she dresses and thinks about her cardigan and glasses as her armor. They don't make her feel as powerful and strong as her suit and the crest of the House of El, but they'll have to do. She stops at Noonan's for coffee, and witnesses Cat's new assistant fumbling to keep everything balanced in the paper tray. She smiles fondly and walks close to him all the way to CatCo to avoid any accident. He successfully manages not to spill the coffee, and Kara hopes the beverage is hot enough that Cat won't object to it.

Thankfully, she doesn't bump into James on the way up. She follows Cat's assistant and watches him sit nervously at what used to be her desk, and shakes her head. Winn approaches her and bumps his shoulder with hers. "They don't make them like you anymore."

"I like to think I'm one of a kind," Kara says.

She walks up to the assistant and greets him with a friendly smile. "Robert, right?"

"Bobby," he answers. "You're Kara Danvers."

Kara is surprised. "Yes, I am."

"You're kind of a legend. Every single assistant tries to live up to you."

"Oh," she laughs, she's surprised she's even spoken of on this side of the office. "Well, just be fast and efficient, but it's okay if you don't get the hang of it at the beginning. Miss Grant can be a little bit _difficult_ ," Kara smiles and, as if on cue, she listens Cat's grumbling on the elevator. "By the way, she's on her way up."

Bobby stands up hastily and fumbles with his tie.

Kara goes back to Winn's desk. "Has he got Cat Chipotle for lunch?" She asks him.

"Nope. But he tried to bring her Burger King. I stopped him and told him where to buy a proper wrap."

"Thanks to you, he lives to be Cat's assistant another day." Winn smiles at her, but she doesn't manage to return a full smile. He cocks his head to the side and furrows his eyebrows.

"Hey, you okay?"

Kara sighs and looks out of the window. She truly misses the view out here. "Yeah," she knots her fingers together. "No," she shrugs her shoulders. "I don't know," she settles as she lets her hands drop.

"What's up?"

"I broke up with James," Kara says and is a little proud of herself when her voice doesn't break.

"Say no more," Winn says, springing to rummage through his drawers. He produces a Twinky and a Snickers and places them near Kara with a small bow of his head.

"What's this?"

"My post-lunch snack, but I think you need it more," Winn says, shrugging his shoulders.

Kara smiles, they are just sugary treats, but Kara knows Winn means to cheer her up in his own way. "Thank you, Winn."

//

Kara is not running away, and most certainly isn't avoiding James. That's what she tells herself all the way to the DEO without been called. And that's what she tells Alex when she sits on a examination table and watches Alex work.

J'onn enters and looks surprised to see Kara there in the middle of the day. "Supergirl."

Kara looks up and waves a little, but says nothing. She goes back to staring into nothing and mindlessly listens to J'onn and Alex discuss something; she doesn't pay enough attention, content with having background noise. However, she notices when J'onn drags a chair near her and sits.

"Have you managed to free everyone from the symbiotic organism?" Kara asks to no one in special.

"We're on it," Alex says from her desk, studying a sample that Kara has to assume belongs to the mentioned troublesome organism.

"At least half of the agents who were used as hosts are in quarantine and recovering," J'onn provides.

"Are there any more symbionts running loose?"

"Not to our knowledge. We got them all."

Kara hums her agreement. J'onn looks at her with the question clear in his eyes. Kara just shakes her head and extends her hand. J'onn takes it without hesitating and they stay like that until there's a knock on the door.

J'onn lets go of her hand and stands up; Kara looks up to see Lucy outside.

"Sorry to interrupt. Director, Senator Crane is on the line asking for you."

J'onn sighs and rubs his eyes. "Very well, Director. I'll be right there."

Lucy nods and stalls when she looks at Kara. Kata notices Lucy wants to ask what's wrong, but the Director shakes her head and leaves without saying anything.

"Has she finally asked you out?" Alex teases.

"Don't push it, agent Danvers. I'm still your superior," J'onn warns before exiting.

"Do they always call each other 'Director'?" Kara asks.

Alex looks up. "Who?"

"Lucy and J'onn. Do they know it sounds ridiculous?"

Alex chuckles. "I doubt it," she goes back to the sample under the microscope.

Kara hangs around a while longer, until she knows she can no longer postpone her return to her day job. Alex hugs her goodbye and promises pizza for dinner.

On her way out, Lucy catches up to her, jogging a little. "Kara," Lucy calls her.

Kara stops and turns. "Hi."

"Back there, with Alex and J'onn," Lucy starts but falters in her words. "I guess I just want - is everything okay?"

Kara smiles softly. "Yes. Thank you."

"You know you can talk to me, right?" Lucy says as if she's afraid Kara doesn't actually know that.

Kara places her hand around Lucy's arm and squeezes. "I do. Thank you. I gotta go, though."

"Sneaked out on Cat Grant?"

"Yeah, something like that," Kara chuckles.

//

Kara guesses she should've known Lucy wouldn't leave it alone. Kara knows Lucy's noticed that she's been acting weird lately, but she really wasn't counting on Lucy getting tired of the same answer every time she asked if Kara was okay. Also, Kara was expecting Alex, but instead Lucy shows up outside her door with a dozen donuts.

Kara opens and raises her eyebrows, already catching the smell of the donuts and smiling.

“Alex told me you broke up with James,” Lucy offers as explanation.

The smile falls away. “Yeah.” Kara stands aside and shows Lucy in.

"So I guess that's why you've been acting weird."

Kara bobs her head up and down and points to the couch, sitting only after Lucy does.

“I bring comfort food and a shoulder to cry on.”

Kara smiles. “I’ll be taking the donuts first.”

“So I imagined," Lucy grins back.

Kara opens the box and inhales, humming. She offers the first pick to Lucy who chooses a chocolate one. Kara tsks disapprovingly.

"There's more to donuts than the classical chocolate one."

Lucy shrugs. "I guess I always go for comfort."

"You should try to be adventurous every once in a while."

Lucy snorts a little. "Like chasing down a convoy transporting two suspects riding motorcycles?"

Kara freezes a little because while it had been her idea to go after Alex and J'onn, Lucy had suggested the bikes part. "Yeah," she settles. "Something like that. Except without, you know, the illegal element to it."

"I don't recall you mentioning the _illegal element_ during the execution of our plan," Lucy teases her, hiding a smirk behind the donut.

Kara simply shrugs and stuffs her mouth with a donut to avoid talking altogether. Lucy watches her with amusement and then looks at the TV.

"What were you gonna watch?"

" _Homeland_. I was expecting Alex, so..."

"You guys still watch that?" Lucy asks, truly surprised. "No one's watched that since the second season."

"Hey, it's still good," Kara uses a donut to point at Lucy. Lucy gives her a look that says she's not convinced by her argument. "It is!" Kara insists.

"Sure thing, Supergirl."

"Okay, what would you watch?"

Lucy thinks about it for a moment. " _How to Get Away With Murder_."

"Really? You don't get enough lawyer drama in your life as it is?"

"I am not Viola Davis!" Lucy says as if that explains everything.

Kara huffs. "Fine." She browses the show and presses play. She sits back and takes another donut. Lucy curls up on the other side of the couch and lifts her feet. She hovers them a little over Kara's lap.

"May I?"

Kara looks down and nods. "Sure."

They watch one episode that way, and as soon as it ends, Kara pats Lucy's leg. "Are you hungry?"

"You just ate half a box of donuts," Lucy points out.

"Yes, that's why I asked if _you_ were hungry. Because I sure am."

"What would you like for dinner?" Lucy asks.

Kara cocks her head to the side. "You're my guest."

"But you're the hungry one. Whatever you order, I'll steal a bite or two."

"Alright. Pizza sound good?"

"Pizza's good."

Kara stands up to order it and when she comes back to the couch, Lucy scoots her legs to give her back her spot. Kara surprises herself when she realizes she's really getting into the show and starts asking Lucy questions.

"Was law school like that?"

Lucy chuckles. "Absolutely no. These kids never do homework, I'm pretty sure Annalise just grades them according to how loyal they are to her. Also, there was significantly less murder during my time in law school."

Kara laughs. "Do you miss it? Being a lawyer?"

"Not really, you know?" Lucy hums a little, poking Kara's leg with her toe. "Running around with aliens is way more entertaining."

"Yeah?"

Lucy nods with a soft smile. Kara smiles too and is about to tell Lucy it's good to have her at the DEO when the doorbell rings. She stands up and goes to retrieve the two boxes of pizza and pay. When she sits back down on the couch, her mouth is already watering to the thought of really greasy cheesy pizza.

"Kara, I'm not really hungry," Lucy tells her, sitting up.

"Oh, I know. One box is just for me," Kara smiles cheekily.

Lucy stands up. "Plates and napkins?"

"Kitchen. I think there's some clean ones still on the sink."

Lucy comes back just in time to catch Kara biting into her first slice. Kara freezes and looks up, feeling a little bit guilty. Lucy shakes her head and tends her a napkin. Kara takes it and smiles around the bite she's taking.

They eat with the episode as background noise. They talk about everything, and Kara is thankful that they never mention James and the break up never comes up in conversation. They discuss work at the DEO, Lucy tells her pretty much the same thing Alex and J'onn told her that morning: almost all the agents taken prisoners are back at full health. Lucy asks about Kara’s adventures around Catco, and Kara can't help herself.

"You should come back."

Lucy shrugs a little. "I would love to. Cat's a really kickass boss, but the DEO's keeping me busy."

"J'onn's been tough on you?"

"Not really. He's been great. And patient, which is important. I can see why you and Alex have a strong bond with him."

Kara nods and smiles. She closes the empty pizza box and places it in the ground. When she opens the other one she finds only two slices missing and grins, of course Lucy would be true to her word. She picks another slice and sits back.

“How can you eat that much and not pass out?”

Kara grins. “Perks of being an alien.”

Lucy swats her arm. Kara lets out a laugh and scrunches her nose.

"Don't get cheeky, Supergirl."

“Yes, Director Lane,” Kara mocks. She wipes her hands clean on a napkin and returns her attention to the show. At some point, she feels Lucy scoot closer and place her head on Kara's shoulder. Kara looks down and notices Lucy's eyes are drooping.

“Are you comfy?" Kara genuinely asks.

"Very," Lucy says around a yawn. Kara chuckles softly and reaches at the back of the couch for the blanket she keeps there. As best as she can, she drapes it around Lucy. Kara sits back and the last thing she remembers before falling asleep is the sound of Lucy's even breathing and Annalise Keating's voice telling everyone how incompetent they are.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, so, apparently i have no idea what the standard length of a chapter is. in other news, the next chapter is gonna be all about superlane, so bear with me a little longer. and hey, thanks for reading.


	2. shot at the night (pt. 1)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> first off, an apology bc college is kicking my ass and it's barely starting, and i've been putting this one off for a while. i'll try to update every two or three weeks, considering there are still 2 more chapters to go. second, i decided to extend kara's period of awkwardness around lucy bc who doesn't like awkward kara with a crush? and due to that this "act" of the fic will be divided in two parts: shot at the night and true romance ((you might guess what's coming in the next chapter)).

Kara’s nape tickles in the way that usually means that if she were human, she would be sore. She sighs, rearranges her glasses, and shuts down her computer. She leans back on her chair giving her neck a rest and focuses. She catches no sight of anyone in this floor of the building, but can hear Cat still in her office, groaning in frustration and fiddling with a glass of M & M’s. Kara stands up and feels her legs begin to get restless; she’s really looking forward to a quiet night of flying mindlessly around, just to beat all the dullness of the day. She collects her things, grabs her gym bag where she’s keeping the cape and boots--to avoid losing track of where she leaves them and in a valiant effort to put some order in her life--, and exits her office.

She’s on her way to Cat’s office to see if she can help Cat with anything so they can both go home satisfied in the knowledge that they have saved the world yet again when her phone rings.

“Hey, Supergirl,” Lucy greets her.

Kara smiles. “Hey, Lucy. What’s up?”

“Are you done saving the Trib?”

“Yeah, I was just leaving.”

“Oh, okay, great,” Lucy says. “Because we’re done here for the day and I thought we could watch some movies.”

“Sure! My place?”

“It’s not like we hang out anywhere else, Kara,” Alex says over the phone.

Kara scrunches her nose and smiles. “Alright, but you guys are buying the pizza.”

She hangs up after listening to Lucy’s affirmative reply and Alex’s groan. Both of them have been very supportive after The Breakup. Kara thinks Alex is doing it because she knows that if she keeps Kara busy with mindless tasks, Kara won’t have time to _brood_ , as Alex has so colorfully put it. However, she’s not entirely sure why Lucy has been so supportive. She guesses it might be because she’s already gone through a break up with James and Kara considers Lucy to be the right person to offer comfort. Kara hasn’t really opened up to Lucy about The Breakup, but Lucy doesn’t seem to mind; instead, she looks like she knows what’s going on in Kara’s head and Kara is insanely grateful for that.

So, both Alex and Lucy have taken up the duty to watch sci-fi movies with Kara as a sort of movie club. Lucy suggested it, after watching some generic zombie movie.

“You know what we should do? We should watch every single sci-fi movie that is set in space or has aliens in it.”

“Why?” Kara didn’t truly find the charm of those things. Usually they were inaccurate and more than a little biased.

“C'mon, it’ll be fun,” Lucy insisted. Kara wasn’t very convinced, but Alex just shrugged and that was enough for Kara.

 

She takes the stairs to the roof, changes, and leaps. She figures she has an hour or so to fly around before Alex and Lucy arrive to her place.

Flying gives her time to think. Flying without an emergency to take care of gives her all the peace of mind she could ever need. Kara likes National City better at night. She enjoys watching all those little orange and white lights below her; it somehow puts her at ease knowing that for each light there’s a person, a beacon of hope, a reason to keep up the good fight.

That’s the main difference between the city and the Danvers’ house by the beach. The stars seem cold to her, a reminder of where she cannot go anymore, of what she’s lost, of how vast and empty space seems to her after the loss of Krypton. However, every streetlight, every house filled with light in National City is connected to a human life, to something that’s still real, still here, and something that she still can save. That’s what makes Kara want to be a better hero–-an infallible one-–even when she knows that it’s not possible. Not for her, not for Clark, not for Wonder Woman. But Kara figures she can still try. There’s a reason why she puts on the suit day after day.

She tries not to fly too close to the starts; she’s always been wary of the fall, mainly because she doesn’t know if she’ll be lucky enough to survive it. Alex had her back and didn’t hesitate to bring her back down to Earth after she willingly flew Fort Rozz into the darkness of space, but Kara knows Alex cannot always be there to save her. Truth be told, Kara’s a little afraid of developing a sort of Icarus complex. That’s why she keeps looking down at the city lights, that’s why she keeps coming back to Alex--because Kara trusts her to always keep her grounded, always glued to this new world, to her new home. Alex is her rock.

As she reaches her apartment, the light comes up and she can’t help but to smile. She can hear Alex’s voice making some sarcastic comment about the state of her empty fridge that makes Kara scoff. She flies through the window in a flourish and Lucy turns on reflex to look at her.

“I’d give you a 9. Solid landing,” Lucy says with a fake critical look in her eyes. She places the pizza boxes on the coffee table, along with some napkins.

Kara smiles bashfully and unclips the cape, letting it fall to the ground. She goes to grab a slice of pizza, but Alex’s voice stops her.

“No capes on the floor!” Alex calls from the kitchen.

Kara rolls her eyes, but still picks it up. “Yes, _Eliza_.” She hangs it on the back of a chair and sits down on the couch, turning the TV on.

“Oh, if she could hear you,” Alex appears with two beers and passes one to Lucy. She takes a sip and grimaces a little. She sits next to Kara and offers her beer.

“Nope, thank you. I don’t like the taste.”

“I was actually wondering if you could,” Lucy trails off, looking at Alex as if asking for permission. Kara looks at Alex too and feels as confused as her sister looks.

“You know,” Lucy continues, gesturing the beer vaguely. Kara narrows her eyes, truly lost. Lucy huffs and blows dramatically towards the beer, and Alex snickers with amusement. Kara catches on what Lucy tries to convey a beat later and coughs, taking the beer from Lucy’s hand.

“Sure,” she blows gently and bottle gets visibly colder, with some frost showing. “Try it?”

Lucy takes a sip and nods. “Freeze breath surely comes in handy.”

“I still stand that the most handy one is super strength,” Alex teases, grabbing a slice of pizza of her own. Kara flushes a little.

“So, what are we watching?”

Alex produces a DVD out of her bag. “A classic.”

“ _Alien_? That’s subtle,” Kara retorts. Alex sticks out her tongue and puts the DVD on the player.

“I’ve never seen it before,” Lucy admits. Alex looks at her scandalized.

“Really? Even Kara has watched it.”

“Hey!”

“Never really had time to watch sci-fi movies,” Lucy shrugs.

“What did you do with your teenage years?” Alex asks.

“Study. You know, law school is not that easy to get into.”

“So, this is all an elaborate plan for you to catch up?” Kara gasps.

Lucy shrugs again with a smile. “Maybe. After all, I have an actual alien and a biochemist of my own to tell me how farfetched these movies are.”

Kara laughs. “Oh, that will not be fun. This one,” she nods towards Alex, “takes all the fun out of it with her science.”

Alex sits down on the last spot of the couch, effectively trapping Kara between her and Lucy. “I’m not that bad.”

Kara scrunches her nose. “Yes, you are.”

Kara grabs a box of pizza and sits back, Alex immediately leaning into her and stealing a slice. Kara tries to bat her hand away, but Lucy sneaks her hand into the box and successfully steals a piece of her own. Kara huffs with fake annoyance, but Lucy gives her a cheeky smile, and Kara doesn't have the heart to actually feel annoyed.

Kara doesn't really comment on how dark and dirty the Nostromo seems to her, since Kryptonian ships were held to a different (more clean) standard, because the first time she saw the movie and said exactly what was on her mind, Alex didn't find it amusing. Instead, Kara nudges Alex the moment Sigourney Weaver comes up on screen, and says, "Hey, it's you. You're only missing the cat."

Alex pokes her side, but says nothing. Ripley was quite the childhood hero for her, Kara knows.

They watch the movie in easy silence, until the point where the Nostromo crew encounters the xenomorph spaceship and what's left of their civilization and Kara can feel Alex _buzzing_ on her left. Alex will deny it, particularly now that she is an actual scientist working with actual aliens, but she always gets pumped up when she watches this movie. So much she ignores the scientific inaccuracies and simply says " _It's a classic, Kara. You need to appreciate classics as they are._ "

However, Kara can tell Lucy is not as excited as Alex. Lucy is tense beside Kara, her attention completely on the screen. As the music builds and the suspense gets a little bit more unbearable, Lucy reaches out and squeezes Kara's thigh. Kara turns to look at her, feeling amused, and watches her reaction.

"Oh my God," Lucy yelps and squeezes Kara's thigh harder the moment the alien jumps out of the egg and latches onto one of the crew's helmet. Kara chuckles softly and pats her hand.

Alex leans forward and gives Lucy a surprised look. "Was that Director Lane getting scared?"

"I wasn't expecting that," Lucy says in defense. Lucy relaxes and takes her hand off from Kara's leg, offering a smile.

The tension wears off for a few scenes, and Kara puts the pizza box, now empty, back on the coffee table and settles into the couch. When the xenomorph comes out of the guy's chest, Lucy manages not to make a sound, but still her hand finds Kara's arm and holds it tight.

"Ouch," Kara complains.

Lucy slaps her bicep. "What's the good of those muscles if they're only for show?"

"Excuse you," Kara starts, but Alex pokes her to keep quiet.

Kara taps her fingers waiting for the big reveal. She knows Alex is also waiting for it, humming under her breath. When she begins to hum a little louder, Kara gets ready because for all her Kryptonian strength and bravado, the xenomorph still scares the crap out of her.

As the xenomorph comes onto the screen in its (not exactly) full glory before killing off yet another member of the crew, Lucy grabs Kara's arm with both her hands and cuddles into her.

"What the fuck is that?"

"The perfect organism," Alex quotes, a little bit in awe.

"Seriously, Alex?" Lucy doesn't sound like she shares the feeling.

Since the rest of the movie is a flurry of action and suspense, Alex spends it completely transfixed by it, even when she's watched this movie more than half a dozen times. Lucy stays glued to Kara's side and Kara finds that she doesn't mind. It's a change from the calm, cool, and collected DEO co-director Kara is used to. Plus, it's kinda cute watching Lucy get jumpy.

By the time the iconic line " _This is Ripley, last survivor of the Nostromo, signing off_ " line comes around, Alex is smiling and rubbing her hands together. Kara knows what's coming.

"What a classic," Alex says, satisfied.

"You say that every time you watch it," Kara points out.

"Which proves that this movie is such a classic that it will never get old nor boring."

Alex stands up to collect the trash and do some cleaning before leaving. Lucy sits up and lets go of Kara's arm, Kara missing the warmth as soon as it leaves her.

"Did you like it?" Kara asks.

Lucy nods slowly. "Those things," she points to the screen, "they are not real, right?"

Kara stays quiet for a moment, dragging the suspense as much as she can, aware of Lucy's look of expectation.

"Kara?"

"What if -" Kara starts, but Lucy gives her a hard look and she dissolves into giggles. "No, Lucy, they are not."

Lucy sighs in relief.

"Although I wouldn't know for sure. I mean, I've never actually seen a xenomorph like that, so who knows? Space is a pretty big place," Kara says with a smile and just the right amount of teasing.

Lucy squares her shoulders. "Well, if they are real and they show up here, you two are dealing with it. I'm not going anywhere near one of those."

"You don't wanna do some Ripley heroics?" Alex asks from the kitchen.

"No, thank you very much."

Kara laughs and offers her hand to help Lucy up from the couch. "They kinda scare me a bit, too."

"Supergirl is scared of some nasty looking alien?" Lucy says, taking Kara's hand and letting her pull her up.

Kara shrugs. "They bleed acid after all."

Lucy smiles. They fall into silence, their joined hands swinging back and forth mindlessly, listening to Alex wrestle with a bag of trash and all the mess that is Kara's kitchen. Lucy looks at Kara with tenderness and squeezes her hand, Kara barely feels it.

"Hey, how are you holding up?"

Kara tenses a little because, if she's being honest, she hasn't thought much about it for a few weeks now. Alex has gone out of her way to make sure she doesn't think about it; Winn has been dragging her to laser tagging and arcades when she's not busy doing Supergirl business, which she's grateful for because she's missed her best friend; Cat has even cut her some slack at the office; and Lucy, Lucy has been a blessing with her quiet support.

"I'm okay, I-" Kara gets interrupted by Alex dragging the trash behind her. She drops Lucy's hand and feels weird about Alex interrupting them.

"Would it kill you to take out the trash every night?"

Kara smiles apologetically. "Sorry, been busy."

"Yeah, yeah. Superheroes suck at excuses," Alex says. "Ready to go?" She nods to Lucy.

"Yup. Do you need help with that?"

Alex looks at Kara, then looks at the trash. "Nah, I think Kara's got it, right?"

Kara takes the trash from Alex and walks both of them out. After she's dropped the trash, she hugs Alex goodbye and waits until her sister is inside the car to bid Lucy goodbye.

Kara hugs her, and she can feel Lucy's hands trying to cover, without a lot of success, Kara's back.

"Thank you," Kara says after stepping back. "Not just for tonight, but for everything, you know," she says and tries to convey with her eyes what she means.

Lucy, as has been the case lately, gets what she's trying to say. "It's alright. You know you can count on me, right?"

"Yeah," Kara says around a smile. Lucy hugs her again before stepping into the car.

//

Kara walks into CatCo the next morning with a bright smile on her face and she doesn't know _why_ , but she's feeling like it. Kara walks to Winn's desk and surprises him with a pretzel.

He smiles and takes the baked good. "What's the occasion?"

Kara shrugs. "Nothing in particular." He mumbles his thanks around a bite, and she leans against his desk.

"Hey," Winn calls her attention. "You're looking pretty good today. Had a fun night?"

"Yeah, I mean, it was movie night with Alex and Lucy, so it was fun."

Winn hums. "Oh, right. The Girl Squad. Which I am not allowed to join."

Kara looks at him with no amusement whatsoever. "Remember the last time you were in the same room as Alex and we were watching _Star Wars_?"

"Yeah, it was no fun," Winn says, grimacing.

Kara thinks that's an understatement. Winn and Alex had a pretty heated argument, while the movie was still playing, about the importance of Chewbacca's role in Han Solo's life and career. While Alex stood her ground saying that the only reason why Han wasn't dead or in prison was because of Chewbacca, Winn kept insisting that Chewbacca was just along for the ride. The argument got so intense Kara just stopped trying to focus on the movie and started playing around with her phone.

"Trust me, it's for the best," Kara says and lays a comforting hand on Winn's shoulder. He looks behind her and freezes. Kara follows his line of sight and comes face to face with James.

"Hey, Kara," he smiles. "How are you doing?"

Kara smiles back and is relieved to find that her heart isn't beating faster than usual. "James, hi. I'm good."

"You look good," James says and they fall into a awkward silence where Kara just nods and smiles, James tries hard to keep eye contact, and Winn just looks between both of them waiting for the Earth to swallow him.

"So, no big stunts last night?" James starts. "Or lately? I mean, Cat is dying for something fresh and meaty. And I haven't caught Supergirl in action for a while."

Kara knows what he means. There haven't been big fights or catastrophic enough accidents to put on the Trib's first page. There have only been headlines about Supergirl helping paramedics and stopping crime here and there, but nothing that Cat Grant would consider big, and Kara knows both Cat and the Trib's main editorial team are doing everything they can to not fall into writing cheesy fluff pieces. Kara reckons it's been silent alien wise recently, and she doesn't know why but she hasn't questioned it, and now that James mentions it, it is kind of suspicious.

"No, no super business lately," Kara says.

"That's weird," Winn says.

"Yeah, it is," Kara agrees.

"Tell you what, in light of the world not ending for once, let's have a game night," James says, smiling. "The three of us."

"Game night?"

"Yeah," Winn interjects. "We've been playing video games. Mostly _Halo_. James sucks at it."

"I do not."

"You don't get to say that when a twelve year-old beat you," Winn tells him with a cynical smile.

Kara looks between the two of them, amused. "That sounds like quite the show, but I can't. Alex, Lucy, and I have this sort of movie club and we've been watching a lot of sci-fi movies -" she trails off because this has been going on for a while and she feels like she doesn't have to explain it again and again.

"Oh, The Girl Squad," James says with raised eyebrows. "Yeah, Winn's been dying to join. He thinks you guys dismantle intergalactic gangs."

Winn gasps dramatically. "I told you that in confidence."

Kara chuckles. "We don't, actually."

"Anyways," James starts, "whenever you guys are not busy kicking butts across space, we should have a game night. Might be fun. Your sister seems competitive enough to give Lucy a run for her money."

Kara nods. Doesn't sound like a bad idea and she does kinda miss being friends with James. They've been working on the "giving each other space" thing, and so far it has worked well for both of them, it seems. Kara doesn't have a mini heart attack every time she sees James now, and James is capable of holding eye contact without making a excuse to leave after fifteen seconds of awkward conversation. Kara thinks both of them have been adults about The Breakup and now they are ready to get back on track with their friendship. And Kara's more than fine with it.

//

Kara enjoys the routine they have set: Alex brings the movies, Lucy brings the food, and Kara supplies the beer and the couch. They work their way through a very specific and long list of sci-fi movies Alex (with Winn's help) compiled, and Kara is surprised at how little filmmakers know about spaceships in general. Sometimes Alex gets overworked with the science involved, but mostly just points out where it's wrong and why. Lucy, for her part, enjoys making both Alex and Kara questions that send them into rants and make them miss some parts of the movie.

While Kara is still not surprised by the knowledge (or lack thereof) sci-fi genre has of space, she's found that she enjoys watching these movies. She likes hearing Alex's scoffs and rushed explanations and answering Lucy's ridiculous yet sincere questions.

When they are watching _Species_ and they see the alien shapeshift into her true form, Lucy gasps. She leans closer to Kara and whispers, "you don't really look like that underneath the... _human suit_ , right?"

Kara laughs and shakes her head. "Human suit?"

Lucy looks up at her. "Yes, the whole Sunny Danvers act."

"No, Lucy. I do not look like that underneath the _human suit_ ," Kara mocks her term. Lucy seems satisfied with her answer and settles herself against Kara's side, both of her hands holding onto Kara's arm. Kara rubs her cheek against the top of Lucy's head and turns back to the movie.

In her periphery, she can see Alex looking at her, but Kara doesn't acknowledge her until she clears her throat. Kara turns to her sister and she doesn't know what to make of Alex's pointed expression. "What?" She mouths.

"Nothing," Alex whispers back, shaking her head. Kara can't shake the feeling that Alex watches her with more attention than the movie for the rest of the night.

//

Kara turns and turns in her office chair hoping that if she does it a little harder, she might actually get dizzy. She huffs in frustration and looks at the blank page and the cursor on the word processor in her computer that blinks angrily at her, taunting her to write one sentence. She traps her pen between her teeth and bites down on it, slowly at first, just to test the pen's resistance. When the material is about to give, Kara drops it and wipes it on her cardigan, standing up and making up her mind. She's going to check that there's no crime happening with Winn first, and then she's going to fly to the DEO to see if she can make herself useful. Or if she can spend some time with Lucy. Or if she can drag Alex to an early lunch.

When she arrives to the DEO and nods in greeting to several agents who salute her, Kara's a little bit disappointed that Lucy doesn't greet her with a smile in the control room. Instead, Vazquez nods at her and tells her Alex is her lab. Kara stalls for a moment and considers asking about Lucy but figures she might as well be doing co-director activities.

"So, things have been quiet around here, huh?" Kara says the moment she steps into Alex's lab.

Alex looks up from a sample she's analyzing. "What are you doing here?"

"Just," Kara shrugs and looks around, "passing by. You know, making sure everything is order."

Alex gives her a weird look and then goes back to the sample. "Did you see Lucy on your way in?"

"No. Thought she was out."

Alex hums her response, distracted.

Kara comes to stand opposite her, with the table between them. "What's that?"

"Part of the original symbiotic organism we were hunting a few weeks ago."

"What are you looking for?"

"A stronger antidote. Some of the subjects had a relapse and sought the organism. As if they were addicted," Alex tells her.

Kara swallows. "That's not good news."

"That's the most exciting thing to happen around here for weeks now."

"Yeah, what's with the alien silence?" Kara leans on the table.

"We don't know, but J'onn and Lucy are getting restless. I'm sure J'onn is one meeting away with the Senate from wiping his own mind."

"And Lucy?" Kara asks.

Alex looks at her. "What about her?"

"You said J'onn is dealing with Senate. What's Lucy doing?"

"Ah," Alex grins without humor. "She's been in and out of... _meetings_ with her father."

"General Lane is around?"

"Yup. And he's not happy about the outbreak we had. He's been kinda hard on Lucy."

"Bet she could use a break."

"Yeah," Alex agrees. "I guess she could."

"Good, because Winn and James want a game night and you two are invited," Kara says, faster than usual.

Alex blinks in an attempt to process the sentence Kara just spat at her. "So, you're on friendly terms with James now?"

"Yes. We agreed on staying friends and he suggested the game night and I think we've both been very mature about The Breakup."

"Well, yeah, that's because you have kept the brooding to a minimum," Alex says with a smile that Kara knows is meant to be teasing.

"I don't brood," she almost pouts.

"Yes, you do," Lucy calls from behind them. She enters the lab walking with the grace she always carries with her and the door closes without a sound behind her.

Kara turns and smiles brightly. "Lucy, hi!" She half waves, but then catches her arm and brings it down fast. She sways a little and steps back when Lucy comes closer, giving Kara a smile in return.

"Yes, Director Lane, hi," Alex says with less enthusiasm. Kara looks at her and wants to squirm when she notices Alex watching her with a critical eye, though she doesn't know why. She doesn't like those glances Alex gives her lately, makes her feel like she's being studied. Kara narrows her eyes, but Alex breaks eye contact and gives Lucy her full attention.

"Supergirl, what brings you here?" Lucy starts.

Kara looks back at Lucy and shrugs. "Just passing by." When Lucy gives her a skeptical look, Kara has a better idea. "Actually, I wanted to ask you if you would be willing to have a game night with James and Winn. Alex will be there as well."

"Will I?" Alex shoots back.

"Yes, you will," Kara says through gritted teeth.

"And you came all the way from CatCo to tell me that?" Lucy seems amused. Kara notices Lucy's eyes shining with humor, the teasing undertone obvious, and doesn't feel silly at all for having flown across the city just to say that.

"Yes," Kara nods her head as seriously as she can.

"Well then," Lucy says and grins with delight evident in her face, "how could I ever refuse such a thoughtfully delivered invitation? What are we playing?"

"I -" Kara starts but reaches a blank in her head. She doesn't even know when the game night is supposed to happen. "I don't know, but I guess Winn will choose."

"Oh, boy," Alex sighs.

Lucy laughs. "Alright, I'm in."

Kara gives her a wide smile and doesn't break eye contact until Alex clears her throat.

//

Kara leaves CatCo with Winn the following Friday. They stop by a Chinese restaurant for some food--well, they order enough food to feed at least a dozen people, but Kara knows there'll be little to no leftovers, specially if they're playing something that would require her to be competitive.

"So, is Lucy coming?" Winn asks.

"Yeah, she was excited when I told her. I think she wouldn't miss the chance to beat you up again."

"It wasn't that bad," Winn tries to defend himself.

Kara gives him a look. "Yes, it was."

"Okay, but at least now we are all playing as friends and we are not trying to impress anyone, right?" He says while wiggling his eyebrows.

Kara nods and smiles.

When they get to Kara's apartment, Kara carrying all the bags of take out and Winn fumbling with Kara's lock, Lucy comes up behind them. She regards Winn with a curious look and drops a kiss on Kara's cheek as greeting. Kara feels a blush coming up her neck, but tries to hold it back and smiles broadly at Lucy.

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to open this door, but the lock just won't give," Winn says, struggling.

"Did you break it?" Lucy asks to Kara.

Kara furrows her eyebrows, trying to remember. "No. I mean, not that I am aware of."

"So those muscles are not only for show," Lucy says, smirking at her.

"I don't go around slamming doors just because of that," Kara winks, but then sags her shoulders. "It's the second one this month. My landlord is gonna start asking questions."

"Aha!" Winn yells as he unlocks the door and bows with  mocking gesture to let Kara and Lucy step in first. Kara drops the bags on the island and starts taking everything out.

Lucy bumps her hips with Kara's. "Can I steal a beer?"

"Sure," Kara says, swallowing. "There's that stout one you like."

Lucy smiles. "You're a doll."

Winn walks up to her and whispers, "you have the beer she likes?"

"Yes, she's been coming over a lot," Kara says with a confused expression. Of course she has the beer Lucy likes. Lucy's presence in Kara's apartment has been a welcomed routine, and Kara didn't even think twice about buying the beer when she saw it in the supermarket. She just thought it was natural to buy a six pack.

"You never have my favorite ice cream," Winn pouts.

"That's because your favorite ice cream is my second favorite ice cream. And flying around stopping crime usually makes me hungry, so," Kara shrugs with a sweet smile.

"Cheater," Winn narrows his eyes. He turns around and walks to open the door when they hear a knock. Kara stays and opens the noodles recipient and takes a pair of chopsticks, ready to dig in.

She turns around when she hears James calling her name. Kara adjusts her glasses and smiles.

"Hey, Luce," James says with a grin. Kara watches as Lucy walks up to him and hugs him.

"Hey, Jimmy."

James makes a face and tries to steal Lucy's beer in retaliation.

"No, get yourself one, big man," Lucy says and stands next to Kara, picking a piece of meat from her noodles.

"Hey!" Kara protests, but smiles when Lucy pops the piece into her mouth and winks at her.

"Too slow," Lucy shrugs.

The four of them sit down, James takes up the big comfy chair where usually Kara sits in, and leaves the couch to the rest of them. Lucy sits squeezed between Kara and Winn, and they begin to eat dinner, while they wait for Alex.

"She had something to check up with J'onn before leaving," Lucy tells them. "I'm not sure what it was, but maybe it won't take her that long."

Winn is delighting them with a tale about Cat's assistant running around CatCo and breaking a sweat while doing so when Alex comes barging in, shoulder first. She fixes her hair and huffs.

"Sorry I'm late," she says. "You really need to change that lock, Kara."

Kara sighs. "Yeah, I'll get to it," she stands up from her spot and goes to fetch Alex a beer. When she comes back, Alex is standing by James' chair and chatting with him with a very friendly tone that surprises Kara.

She passes Alex her beer and goes back to her spot. Alex looks around the apartment and raises an eyebrow.

"And I sit on the floor or...?"

"Oh, I got it," Lucy says as she half stands up and presents her spot to Alex. She then points at Kara's lap and asks, "do you mind?"

Kara coughs once and shakes her head with enthusiasm. "No, not at all."

Lucy sits down on her lap, and the first thing Kara does is circle her waist with her arms. Lucy settles more comfortably and smiles down at Kara.

"You're comfy."

Kara wiggles her eyebrows. "So I've been told."

Alex sits down and looks at Kara with raised eyebrows and skepticism written all over her face. Kara shrugs, dismissing her look, but Alex is relentless. She stares at Kara and then stares at Lucy as if waiting for answers. And Alex isn't the only one. Kara catches a glimpse of Winn looking at them with shock evident all over his face and Kara doesn't even want to turn to look at James and check his reaction. Kara clears her throat, but Lucy beats her to break the silence.

"So, what are we playing?"

"Right," Winn claps his hands and stands up to retrieve the first game. "I thought some Pictionary would be the perfect opener," he says as he shakes the box.

"I love Pictionary," Kara says.

"Okay, so, since I suck at Pictionary I think it's only fair that I'm on Kara's team," Winn says, and Alex groans.

"She's an artist. There is no way you can suck at Pictionary on her team," Alex says while picking her dinner from the coffee table.

"Alright, sore loser," Kara pokes Alex's side. "I don't draw."

"That makes things more interesting. What about you, Lucy?" James asks.

Lucy looks sheepish. "You know I don't know how to draw."

Alex perks up at that. "Does that mean, Director Lane, that there would be a possibility of kicking your butt?" She looks at James. "You up?"

James smirks. "Always."

"Oh, now I'm gonna get competitive and you won't like it," Lucy warns to both Alex and James, but Alex is already out of her seat and sitting down on the floor by the foot of James' chair.

"We'll see about that, Lane," Alex throws her a sweet smile.

Lucy turns to look at Kara with a determined look on her face. "You're gonna have to up your guessing game, Supergirl."

Kara raises both eyebrows. "Are you really that bad?"

"Not as bad as Winn," Lucy shrugs.

"Hey!" Winn complains, setting up the white board where they'll draw.

Alex takes possession of the cards and starts to shuffle them, handing half of them to James. Kara looks at them over Lucy's shoulder and points a menacing finger at Alex. "Don't you think about cheating. I'll know if you did."

"How? You can't read minds," Alex says with a cheeky smile. She leaves the cards in the middle of the coffee table and sits back.

"We're gonna beat them, anyways," Lucy comments and Kara presents her hand for a high five, which Lucy gives gladly.

After Winn is finished with the board, and Alex swears yet again that she didn't cheat with the cards, James flips a coin to decide who starts the game.

"Heads!" Kara calls as soon as she catches sight of the coin in the air.

James traps it in between his hands, and reveals it. He chuckles. "Tails," and presents it to Lucy for inspection. Lucy grumbles but accepts the outcome.

"Alright," Winn says and toys with the hourglass. "Ready?" Alex stands up and takes a card from the little pile on the table and looks at James, mouthing _focus_. "You're up," Winn says, flipping the hourglass.

Alex turns to the board and starts drawing what Kara thinks might be a crooked dog, but she's not sure of it.

"A dog?" James starts. Alex draws a little tick on the upper left corner of the board, for James to see. Then proceeds to draw what looks like sunglasses and... a cane? Kara doesn't know how she used to wipe the floor with Alex as her team.

"A cane," James says, sitting closer to the edge. Alex nods and then draws a face to go with the sunglasses.

"A blind guy with a cane?" James continues guessing. Kara looks at the hourglass and the sand is slowly but surely making its way down, she guesses James has about 10 seconds before the time runs out. Alex circles the dog and draws arrows between the face and the dog, and Kara has to smile because she's already guessed. That's how she always makes a great team with Alex.

"A blind guy with a dog?"

Alex draws a cross on the board and stresses the dog again.

"The dog? It's about the dog?" James asks, almost falling out of the chair. Alex adds a tick.

"It's a guide dog!" James yells raising his arms above his head. Alex does the same, and they manage to do it just in time. Alex erases her efforts from the board and James chuckles as he advances their player on the game's board one step.

"Alright, my turn," Lucy stands up, taking a card on her way. She shows it to James and Alex before grabbing a marker.

"Ready?" Winn asks. Lucy nods sharply. "Go!"

"It's a hat. A party hat. A Mexican hat. A fancy hat. Lincoln's hat," Winn shoots as soon as Lucy starts drawing and he can make out the shape. Kara chuckles as she hears Lucy's frustrated sigh.

"A top hat," Kara provides and Lucy nods. She then goes to draw a cat. Or what Kara assumes Lucy thinks a cat looks like.

"Is that a cat?" Winn asks with skepticism, voicing Kara's thoughts. Lucy nods, underlines the hat, and draws an arrow to the cat.

"Top hat. Cat. Top hat, cat," Winn mumbles.

" _Top Cat_!" Kara calls out. Lucy all but drops the marker and goes to high five Kara. She then high fives Winn because he also deserves it. Winn puts their player at the same spot where James and Alex's is and the game just grows in excitement from there.

James and Alex are quite the impressive team, Kara has to give them that, but she's good at this, and not only at the drawing part. Winn has a weird way of connecting concepts and his doodles are often rushed, yet Kara and Lucy find a way to understand them. Lucy, on the other hand, is more practical. She goes for drawing circles and sticks and basic geometric shapes, but her message always gets across, and most importantly, fast enough for Kara and Winn to guess.

To Kara's surprise, they spend most of the night playing Pictionary. James and Alex are two steps away from winning; they've been throwing the dice but they always get a big number that doesn't leave them on the finishing spot and have to go back. That's what's how they've been dragging on the game. Kara is bouncing her leg up and down, full of nervous energy and biting her thumb absently, watching as James fails to draw a convincing enough Sherlock Holmes so Alex can guess it. Lucy sighs in relief beside her, and Winn looks just as nervous as Kara feels.

"Okay," Winn stands up, wipes his hands on his jeans, and reaches for a card. He snorts and smiles, making finger guns at Kara. She raises an eyebrow at him and sits back. If Winn's feeling confident about this round, then Kara has nothing to fear.

Except that she kinda should because they don't have much time and Winn's drawing something that looks too complicated and he's taking too long, and Lucy's trying to spy what Winn is drawing but he's kind of in the way. Finally, Winn steps back and points to the board with a confident smile on his face, and Kara's expression falls because _who_ in the hell is that?

"Is that," Kara starts, cocking her head to the side, "Gandalf?"

Winn shakes his head.

"Dumbledore?" She tries again. Winn denies once more, then glances to the hourglass and panics. He goes back to the board and draws a close up of the hat. He doodles little stars on it and tries to fill up the blank space with the blue marker as best as he can, but Kara is still at a loss.

"I don't get it," Kara huffs. "If it's not Gandalf and it's not Dumbledore, then who is -"

"Merlin!" Lucy yells.

"Time!" Alex calls out at the same time.

"What?" Kara and Winn shout as one. Kara starts shaking her head. "No, no, no. I clearly heard Lucy say the answer before you even started to take a breath to call time."

"They yelled at the same time," James protests.

"No. Lucy yelled first," Kara insists, then taps her ears and says, "superhearing, remember?"

"Show off," Alex pokes her tongue out.

"Game point round," James suggests.

"Okay," Kara shrugs. "But I draw."

Alex gasps. "Fine. I draw too."

Kara doesn't feel guilty in the least when she uses a burst of superspeed to grab a card faster than Alex, even when Alex cries out calling her a cheater. Kara presents the card to her sister, careful that James doesn't catch a glimpse of it. Alex frowns when she looks at it, but nods, determined. Kara turns to her team and gives them a thumbs up; they've got this. Lucy reaches the hourglass and flips it after yelling an excited "go!"

Kara draws the silhouette and adds only the details that will give away the answer. She turns to look at Alex's side of the board and sees something similar doodled on it.

"A dinosaur," James says.

"A walking lizard alien?" Winn tries.

"Godzilla," Lucy finally nails it, and Kara drops the marker, raising her arms in victory.

"Are you freaking kidding me?" Alex says frustrated.

Lucy leaps from the couch and jumps into Kara's arms, her legs around Kara's waist. Kara spins them around once and then sets Lucy down, accepting a double high five from Winn and watching as he gives another to Lucy.

"So," Lucy starts. "What did we bet?"

"Nothing," Alex grumbles.

"Well, then, how about you go get me another beer, agent Danvers?" Lucy says with a cheeky smile and a glint in her eyes Kara doesn't see very often, but wouldn't mind if she did. She watches Lucy glow with humor and is glad that she agreed to this game night because seeing Lucy smile like that and joke around is definitely worth it.

When Alex comes with two beers, one for Lucy and one for Winn, they sit down and start making idle talk. Winn suggests they watch a movie, and Lucy perks up at that. Alex, however, is wary.

"What do you have in mind?" She asks Winn.

Winn shrugs. " _Star Wars_?"

"No!" Kara and James say in unison.

Alex smirks, and Winn raises his hands in defeat. "Okay, no _Star Wars_. How about _Blade Runner_?"

" _Blade Runner_ is safe," Kara decides.

"Never watched it," Lucy comments. Winn gasps, horrified. James says a non committal "not surprised". Alex just takes a sip from her beer. Kara looks at Lucy as if she doesn't recognize her.

"How have you been living?"

Lucy shrugs. "I tried to watch it, but I always fell asleep. But I guess young Harrison Ford deserves a try."

James stays on the chair, and Kara thinks that might be _his_ chair from now on. Alex and Winn take some cushions and sit on the ground because that's the kind of nerds they are. And Kara and Lucy take up the couch. Lucy rests her head on the far arm of the sofa and puts her legs up on Kara's lap. Kara places a hand below Lucy's knee and starts to rub absently, her attention on the screen because that damn movie is gorgeous.

They don't even reach the half of the movie when James yawns and stretches his legs. "I think I'm calling it a night."

Winn stands up. "Yeah, me too. Can you give me a ride?"

"Sure, man."

James kisses Lucy's cheek as a goodbye, claps Alex's shoulder, and hugs Kara. "Thank you," he says.

Kara rubs his back. "No, thank _you_."

When they break the hug, James is smiling and Kara has a feeling they are finally back on track as friends, and she cannot feel more ecstatic about it. Winn hugs the three of them goodbye, and when they leave, Alex climbs onto the chair James vacated. Lucy changes positions and lays her head on Kara's lap, sighing when Kara runs her fingers through her hair.

"You're not allowed to fall asleep," Kara warns, in a whisper.

"Then stop doing that," Lucy quips back.

Kara chuckles, but doesn't stop. When she returns her eyes to the movie, she gets that same feeling she does whenever Alex is watching her with rapt attention these days. Like the side of her face tingles, and her heart starts beating a little bit faster. Like she's being caught doing something that she shouldn't. But when Kara turns to look at Alex, her sister has already gone back to watching the movie in silence.

Alex leaves just shy of reaching the final fight. She stands up, puts all the trash in the can in the kitchen and kisses Kara's cheek before she leaves. Kara shoots her a smile and a whispered "I love you" which Alex returns with a wink. When the movie ends and the credits start rolling, Kara isn't sure if Lucy's still awake, because her breathing has evened out and her heart is beating in a slow, languid pace.

"Luce, you awake?" She tries.

"Yeah," Lucy whispers.

"Did you like the movie?"

"Yeah, I didn't fall asleep."

Kara chuckles and they stay that way for a while. Kara runs her fingers through Lucy's hair again, noticing its softness, and even catching a slight scent of perfume. Lucy breathes in deeply and sits up with difficulty.

"I was just getting comfy," she says while patting Kara's leg.

"I feel like that was the theme tonight," Kara jokes.

Lucy laughs and stands up. "Can I help you with anything?"

Kara cocks her head, standing up as well. "No, I got it. Plus, you should get home. You look like you're about to pass out."

"You know how to flatter a girl," Lucy bumps their shoulders together.

"I can always," Kara starts and makes a wooshing sound, her hand cutting the space between them resembling a plane, "you know, fly you."

Lucy sobers up at that. "Yeah, not gonna happen any time soon, Supergirl."

"Alright," Kara shrugs and walks Lucy out the door.

Lucy stands on her tips and presses a kiss to Kara's cheek. "Thank you, for tonight."

Kara beams at her, hoping that the relative darkness of the hallway hides the blush she's sure she's sporting. "My pleasure."

"We make a pretty good team, don't we?"

Kara sighs and smiles softly. "Yeah, we do."

//

If Kara were asked to pinpoint the exact moment where Lucy Lane became a fixture in her life, she'd probably have a hard time answering that question. Kara isn't sure when or how Lucy became such an important part of her life because, when Kara tries to look back at a recent point where Lucy was just another face in the background, she ends up drawing a blank. Kara thinks back to when Lucy showed up beside General Lane and eyed Supergirl up and down, sizing her. She also thinks back to when Kara saved her in repeated occasions. The conclusion Kara reaches is that Lucy's kind of always been there, but Kara has never actually realized how much.

It's late and Kara is still at CatCo proofreading the following day's Tribune entertainment section. Kara thinks being appointed to this department was Cat's way of playing a joke, or teaching her a lesson through irony. Kara believes Cat is trying to recreate her rise to success with Kara's career, but in a modern and adapted version. Kara doesn't really mind, she's always been incredibly patient with Cat.

She reaches for her phone and answers Alex with half her attention.

"You still at work?"

"Yes," Kara says, shutting down her computer and collecting her stuff.

"What are you doing tonight?"

"Just watching some Netflix with Lucy. Why?"

Alex hums but doesn't say anything. That worries Kara. That means Alex is thinking about something, but won't tell Kara about it until she believes Kara is ready to hear it. Kara hates that wait.

"Alex?" She prompts, hoping to get something out from her.

"So, you and Lucy are pretty attached now, huh?" Alex casually says.

Kara stutters and makes some vague noises. "Yeah, you know," she fixes her glasses and turns off the lights. "We've been, you know -" Kara can't help but to gesture wildly with her hands, even when she knows Alex can't see her. "Doing stuff."

"Stuff?"

"Yeah, you know, stuff," Kara winces because she doesn't sound convincing _at all_.

"Well, have fun doing _stuff_ ," Alex says, and Kara can hear the smirk in her tone.

She hangs up and watches as Cat leaves her office. A voice in the back of Kara's mind tells her to make a wish because she's sure no one has ever seen Cat Grant leave her office and live to tell the tale.

"Kara," Cat says, surprised to see her there. "Why are you still here? Don't you have a millennial life to live while you're not out there doing heroics?" Cat vaguely gestures to the windows.

"Just finished proofreading. Couldn't leave it like that."

Cat hums her answer and walks to her private elevator. Kara stays back and jabs her thumb to the communal elevators. "I'll just -"

"Don't be ridiculous. Come," Cat holds the doors. "Come before I regret it."

Kara jogs towards Cat and presses the button for the lobby and the parking lot. She stands back and rests her head on the elevator wall.

"So, what are your plans for the night?"

"Just Netflix and -" Kara stops herself before she can say _chill_.

"Chill?" Cat asks with a raised eyebrow, amusement in her voice. "With Olsen?"

"Yeah, no, we broke up," Kara says and when she sees Cat's intrigued expression she elaborates. "Between Supergirl stuff and the Trib it wasn't working."

"Netflix and chill by yourself, then?"

"Not really. With Lucy."

"Baby Lane?"

"Yup."

Cat hums. "That's a new development."

Before Kara can ask what she means by that, the elevator reaches the lobby and she steps out, wishing Cat a goodnight and a good weekend.

//

Lucy is waiting for her, watching _2001: A Space Odyssey_ , and eating cookies, when Kara finally arrives home.

"You started without me," Kara pouts, dropping on the couch and stealing a cookie.

"You haven't seen this one before?"

Kara shakes her head.

"My father used to watch Kubrick movies when he was at home. Lois hated them and I didn't understand them," Lucy says, returning her eyes at the screen. "It's been 30 minutes since I started and I don't understand anything."

"Starting again might help you understand," Kara says with a grin.

Lucy pins her with an unamused look, but still pats the spot right beside her. "Then get over here."

Kara complies and Lucy rewinds the movie. Half way into it, Kara feels like she's on a bad acid trip that induced her into an anxiety attack. When she looks down to say so to Lucy, she finds her fast asleep against her side, her breathing steady. Kara hugs her a little bit closer, and returns her eyes to the movie, but her attention is focused on listening to Lucy's even heartbeat. Kara feels warm and fuzzy, and a lazy smile makes its way onto her face.

When the movie finishes, Kara doesn't have the heart to wake Lucy up and tell her that it's time for her to go. Instead she tries to slide out from her spot on the couch to get Lucy a change of clothes so she can stay the night. However, Kara is not a sneaky as she thinks she is, and Lucy stirs awake.

"Hey, where you going?" She mumbles.

"To get you some clothes and a blanket," Kara runs her hand through Lucy's hair and Lucy leans into the contact. "I'll be right back."

Kara runs through her old clothes and settles for one of her old college jerseys and a pair of sweat pants that Alex left behind. She's sure the jersey will look comically huge on Lucy, but it's the most comfortable piece of clothing she owns. She grabs a blanket from her bed and returns to the living room.

Lucy is cuddled against the back of the couch as a replacement for Kara. Kara sits down at the end of the couch and pats Lucy's leg, trying to get her attention. Lucy turns to look at her, but Kara can see that her eyes are not focused at all and chuckles at the sight.

"Something funny?"

"Nope," Kara shakes her head and presents the clothes. "I hope the sweats aren't too big. They're Alex's."

"She's not very tall," Lucy says while trying to shrug off her jeans.

"Don't let her hear you say that. She'll kick your butt."

"Wouldn't you defend me?"

"Then she'd kick my butt too," Kara says and tugs the jeans off. She has to look away when Lucy's legs are in full display, and she can feel a blush coming up her neck. Kara clears her throat and passes Lucy the sweats.

"Here."

Lucy puts them on, and then half sits up to take off her shirt. Kara's eyes widen when she catches sight of toned abs and sharp clavicles, and she turns around in the couch, blindly passing Lucy the jersey.

"It's nothing you haven't seen before, Supergirl," Lucy teases her.

"Yeah, no, just giving you -" Kara swallows and turns back, "some privacy."

Lucy shakes her head and lays down again. Kara stands up and covers her with the blanket, watching Lucy close her eyes and shrug into the warmth the blanket provides.

Kara hovers above Lucy, one hand on the arm of the couch and another on the back of it. Lucy opens her eyes and rests a hand on Kara's shoulder, smiling softly. Kara doesn't smile back, she gets lost in the green hue of Lucy's eyes and wonders if she might be able to replicate that same shade on a canvas. Maybe if she paints a deep, dark forest where Kara might be able to get lost in for days. Maybe if she recreates the image of a planet that she once visited when she was younger and never wanted to leave. Kara doesn't realize what she's doing until she feels Lucy's hand cupping the back of her head and her eyes fluttering shut. She doesn't know when or how she leaned down and got so close to Lucy's face, close enough that she could count the freckles dusting her cheekbones. And that's when her brain catches up with her body. Kara consciously stalls her movements and stiffens. She was just about to kiss Lucy without even thinking about it.

"Kara?" Lucy asks, opening her eyes. Even with sleep at the edge of them, her eyes still show concern.

"Goodnight, Lucy!" She yelps out and straightens in a blur. Kara, in her haste to leave the room and put some distance between her and Lucy, bumps into several chairs and the frame of her bedroom door.

Kara winces at the noise, and calls out "I'm fine!" before shutting her door. She groans and falls face first on her bed. She considers calling Alex, but if the looks she's been sending Kara whenever Lucy is around mean anything, Alex probably already has an idea, and Kara really doesn't want to be teased right now.

Kara tries to convince herself that sleeping it off is the best way to deal with it. She turns around and stares at the ceiling.

When she was younger and living with the Danvers, she used to count the cracks on the ceiling and then name them. Back then, the cracks were named after all the planets that she learned of on Krypton. Then, when Alex asked her to teach her Kryptonian, the cracks turned into numbers and letters that Kara pointed at and Alex repeated.

Right now, the cracks don't have a name because Kara can't of anything that's not Lucy. Lucy, who is just outside her door, sleeping. Lucy, whose heartbeat echoes in Kara's ears loudly. Lucy, who she almost kissed.

"Crap," Kara breathes out. "I have a crush on Lucy Lane."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i still don't know how long a chapter must be. i just hope this one wasn't tedious to read.


	3. true romance (pt. 2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> first of all, i'd like to thank everyone who has left a kind comment. i want you all to know that i read and reread them and they make me very happy and i feel sort of bad for not dropping this earlier. thanK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING, i swear it means the world to me. second, this story took a funny turn and now kara's going to fight an alien that looks very much like a kaiju but it's not actually a kaiju but it's easier to just call it a kaiju. sorry about that, i ran out of plot devices hehe, but i promise it's getting somewhere.

No. She does not have a crush on Lucy.

_Kara Danvers_ cannot have a crush on _Lucy Lane_. She just can’t.

Kara walks in circles in her apartment, putting her morning routine off, in favor of doing some thinking. She stops when her nose catches the scent of slightly burned carpet. She huffs, and frowns with annoyance when it is accompanied by freeze breath.

She can’t have a crush on Lucy because Lucy is James’ ex. And come think of it, Kara is James’ ex as well. Kara thinks this is quite the love triangle she never asked to be a part of. This kind of thing only happens in _Grey’s Anatomy_ and Kara doesn’t even like that show.

But as Kara thinks more about it, there was no way for her not to have a crush on Lucy Lane. Lucy is smart, strong, dedicated, gorgeous, funny, her eyes are the loveliest shade of green… Kara can go on. She’s even surprised that she didn’t notice sooner; like, as soon as Lucy stepped down from a government issued van, right on her father’s heels, and eyed Supergirl up and down. Kara doesn’t know how all the movie nights spent cuddled with Lucy flew over her head. She’s completely clueless as to why she didn’t think it important when she started sharing her food with Lucy. Kara truly has no idea _when_ friendship turned into a crush, and she’s not sure she wants to know the answer because it might be more telling than her feelings sneaking up on her.

Maybe she is as thick as Alex says she is, and she doesn’t like it.

She doesn’t like it one bit.

//

Kara tries to convince herself that she doesn’t have a crush on Lucy. And it would be a great plan, if it weren’t so difficult to execute. Kara notices that, suddenly, Lucy is everywhere. Kara opens her fridge and the first thing she sees is Lucy’s beer. Kara makes her laundry and she frowns when she sees a shirt of Lucy’s along with her own–-the one she left behind the night Kara almost kissed her. Kara uses her phone and the most recent messages and calls are from Lucy. Kara puts one of her cardigans on and she can smell a faint trace of Lucy’s perfume on them.

Lucy is everywhere. Everywhere. And Kara doesn’t know what to do with this crush of hers.

//

“Okay, just keep it cool, Kara. Keep it cool,” Kara mumbles to herself in Kryptonian as she walks through the halls of the DEO looking for Alex.

She’s only exchanged hurried calls and brief texts with Lucy since _that_ night because Kara firmly believes that if she can avoid Lucy, she can get over her crush and go back to feeling friendly things for Lucy. No big deal; totally easy. Because having a crush on Lucy would put them in an uncomfortable situation and the last thing Kara wants is to lose her friendship with Lucy.

She can do this. She can channel every bit of the Supergirl confidence she stores up somewhere, and put away awkward, obvious, clumsy, and _crushing_ Kara for a while. She walks tall, her shoulders squared, and her jaw set. She also listens carefully to everyone’s steps because she’s still kind of hoping she can avoid Lucy and not embarrass herself any further. Not that she knows the exact pace and cadence of Lucy’s steps or anything. Kara groans internally; one thing is appearing cool, calm, and collected and another completely different is being all those three things at once.

When she sets foot in the control room, Vazquez turns and looks at her funny. “Are you looking for something, ma'am?”

“No. Not really,” Kara says, scanning the room, trying to tune her senses and find Lucy before she finds her. She looks every bit like she’s looking for something and Vazquez is not stupid.

“Are you looking for someone, then?” Vazquez smirks.

It’s Kara’s turn to look at her funny. “No?”

“You don’t sound very convinced, ma'am.”

Kara huffs and crosses her arms, and feels incredibly annoyed when Vazquez chuckles.

“Agent Danvers is in the armory,” Vazquez tells her, taking pity of her. “Director Lane is in her office.”

“I didn’t ask for Lu – director Lane,” Kara says.

“But don’t you want to know?” Vazquez says, and Kara narrows her eyes, thinking the agent is having way too much fun with this.

“Thank you, Vazquez,” Kara says and has to physically restrain herself from rolling her eyes when Vazquez gives her a final smirk before going back to work.

The closer Kara gets to the armory, the louder she hears a gun going off and Alex’s steady heartbeat. That sound is enough to put Kara’s anxiety and worry in the back of her mind, and make her feel more at ease. Kara presses her shoulder against the door, and when she pushes, she feels sick to her stomach. Not enough to throw up, but the discomfort is there. Kara looks around and her eyes fall first on Alex shooting at a range, and then on the kryptonite contained in lead cases.

“Kara?” Alex asks, lowering her gun.

Kara waves. Alex takes off her protective goggles and puts the gun down. Kara points at the gun. “What you got there?”

“A prototype, non-lethal. It just shoots electrical discharges to stun.”

“A stun gun?” Kara is surprised.

It’s Alex’s turn to shrug. “We care about aliens?”

Kara chuckles, but she stops abruptly when she hears Lucy walking in their direction. She looks around the armory for a place to hide, and she’s about to give up and bolt out of the door the moment Lucy opens it, when Alex notices her panic.

“Kara, what –”

The door opens and Kara freezes. She closes her eyes and breathes deeply before turning around.

“Alex, we have – oh, Kara. I didn’t know you were here,” Lucy greets her.

“Lucy,” Kara gives her a wide wave, and laughs nervously. She tries to subtly take several steps away from Lucy and put distance between them. “You – um, you’re looking good.”

Lucy narrows her eyes. “Thank you,” she then turns to Alex, “we have a situation. The alien kind.”

“Finally,” Alex huffs.

“And now that you’re here, we could use a little help, Supergirl,” Lucy tells Kara.

“Yeah, sure – totally. I am absolutely on board,” Kara rambles and gives Lucy a thumbs up. She fights back the urge to wince, because she really is doing a crappy job at remaining cool.

“Right,” Lucy nods. “Okay, we leave in 5. Vazquez will give you the coordinates.”

“Amazing,” Kara grins and nods. Lucy smiles back and leaves the room. Kara follows her with her eyes all the way out, annoyed at the blush she can feel in the tips of her ears.

Kara sighs and shakes her head. The plan wasn’t very hard; it consisted only on keeping her cool, on trusting her Supergirl Confidence. Except her body language and her ever present awkwardness aren’t on the same page as her and they keep giving her away. And honestly? Kara just feels betrayed. Why can’t she lie about _this one thing_?

When she turns to look at Alex and finds her trying to keep a smirk off her face with a defiant eyebrow raised, Kara knows she’s in trouble.

“So, you _do_ have a crush on her,” Alex says with that concise tone she uses on DEO business.

Yup, a lot of trouble.

Kara’s eyes widen and she raises her hands to stop Alex. She can feel the denial on her tongue. Her brain has already gone through at least three different sentences that deny her crush on Lucy, and she’s ready to sputter them out, but Alex just can’t hold back the smirk anymore the moment she sees all the defensive signals in Kara. And Kara should’ve known better. She should’ve just bolted out of the armory when she had a chance, kryptonite atmosphere be damned.

“I don’t?” Kara tries with a small voice.

Alex shakes her head. “We’re gonna talk about this later, okay?”

Kara nods and heads out of the room, Alex right on her heels, and Kara feels a comforting hand on her shoulder.

//

Alien business means Supergirl gets to work. Work means distraction. Distraction means Kara doesn’t have the mind space, nor the time, to think about Lucy. Which is great, honestly. The only bad part about all of this is that the alien looks like a freaking dinosaur that crawled up from the depths of the ocean. It has a head shaped like a hammer, scales everywhere, a very dangerous and sharp-looking tail, and T-Rex arms to go with the whole package.

The alien is attacking the bridge and trying to bite it in half. Two cars are dangling too close to the edge to be safe, and Kara can see all the passengers inside trying to get out. She flies up to them and tells them not to panic, that she’ll get them out. She looks at the alien and finds it still busy trying to chew the bridge; so she helps a family out, places them on the bridge, and tells them to find some cover.

When she turns to face the alien, it is already charging against her. Kara barely avoids it and flies into it, trying to distance it from the bridge and the rest of the city. The alien falls back into the water, and Kara takes this opportunity to take the other car to safety. She places herself below it, lifting it, and carries it to a safer spot on the bridge.

Kara turns when she hears a dreadful roar behind her. The alien regains its menacing posture, the water rippling against its form and causing violent waves around it. Kara swallows because this guy is scary enough.

“Kara,” Alex’s voice comes through her ear piece. “You need to take it away from the city. We cannot afford the casualties.”

Kara sets her jaw. “Alright, on it.”

“We’ll meet you out in the ocean. A containment team is ready.”

Kara charges against the alien and it staggers backwards a few meters. Kara thinks maybe she can keep pushing until they are no longer on coastal lines–-Alex always did say she would make a mean linebacker. She drives an upper cut to the alien’s head, stunning it for a while, and Kara takes the opportunity to grab one of its arms and fly them both out of the danger zone. Kara manages to fly several meters before the alien is already pulling on its arm and she barely misses the whip of its tail trying to get her off its arm. Kara pulls harder, until the alien is no longer moving and instead is thrashing around, trying to free itself. She lets loose, flies upwards, and comes back down, legs first, and impacts straight into the alien’s head. Before it can go underwater, Kara grabs with both hands one of its arms, circles around, gaining impulse, and throws it out into the ocean. It falls with a splash and she follows after it.

She can see the DEO vans lining up in land, and one military issued ship searching the water.

“Alex?” She taps her ear. “Where are you?”

“On the ship, with J'onn. Do you have visual of the alien?”

Kara flies by the ship and hovers in the air, frowning when she can’t find the alien. She loses altitude and searches harder, trying to ignore all the fishes swimming about, but she can’t find it. Just when she’s about to land on the ship and let Alex find it, her senses catch the sound of the water breaking and the tail of the alien coming to surface. She turns around, putting herself in between the ship and the alien, and is too slow to avoid the contact. It attacks Kara with its tail and she is thrown away by the force of the impact and into the ocean.

A big splash follows her fall, and she goes down, down, deep into the ocean. She loses her earpiece somewhere in the fall, and the first thing that crosses her mind is Alex. Alex who is still on the ship, facing an alien on her own, who doesn’t know where Kara is, and who is gonna chew her ear off for losing her earpiece yet again. Her senses get overwhelmed by the salt and the pressure. For a moment, everything she sees are the bubbles and the foam around her. She closes her eyes to take a moment and relaxes. She opens them and looks around herself before tensing her arms and legs, and plunges out of the ocean. In the back of her mind Kara thinks that she’s going to reek of salt for at least two days.

She flies back to the site in full sprint, watching as the alien breaks the ship in two. Her eyes look for Alex, and is relieved when both her and J'onn are looking for cover on land and helping DEO agents get out of the ocean. Near them, Lucy and her team are shooting tranquilizers at the alien, but Kara thinks this might not be the kind you just put to sleep. She watches as the alien turns to land, and roars at the small humans firing at it. Kara swallows and sets her jaw; she has to stop this one before it causes more mayhem.

She lands hard right in front of Lucy and several other agents, making a small crater around herself. She smirks because secretly she likes hard landings, they make her feel more powerful, more imposing. But apparently, hard landings also make big aliens angry. She doesn’t think twice and fires her heat vision, floating a little above the ground and driving the alien backwards, eventually blinding it.

When the alien falls with a pained roar, Kara swallows and turns around. DEO agents are scattering, but Lucy stands and gives her a grateful smile, walking up to her. She has a cut on her cheek and has sand everywhere, but she’s in one piece.

“You have a little,” she gestures at Kara’s hair. Kara frowns, and reaches blindly.

Lucy shakes her head and takes a little of algae out of Kara’s hair. She presents it to Kara, who just furrows her nose and makes a disgusted nose.

“Those are gonna be coming out for the next two days.”

“Charming,” Lucy teases her. “Maybe you should dry yourself.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I miscalculated the strength of the sea alien’s tail,” Kara mocks and makes a face.

Lucy just chuckles. Kara catches sight of Alex running at her with J'onn by her side. Kara turns fully towards her sister and accepts the hug. When they break it, J'onn hands her a towel.

“What is that?” Kara asks, blindly taking the towel and looking back at the alien that some agents are retaining.

“I saw them,” J'onn says. Kara turns to him and finds him more tense than usual.

“On Mars?” Kara asks in a quiet voice, only for Alex, Lucy, and J'onn’s ears.

“No. On another planet. They are predators. They devour planets.”

“Great,” Alex huffs.

“Something tells me this one didn’t come alone,” Lucy says in a dark tone. J'onn looks at her and shakes his head stiffly.

“No, I don’t think it did.”

Now, Kara thinks that sounds too sinister, but yet again, everything sounds more serious in J'onn’s voice. Still, she swallows and hopes that the dread she feels doesn’t show on her face. She tries to go back to the DEO with Alex, but her sister tells her that her job is done for the day.

“You saved us and stopped an alien,” Alex squeezes her shoulder and gives her a smile. “Plus, you look like a drowned puppy.”

Kara rolls her eyes and punches Alex in the arm. Alex complains, but accepts the kiss Kara drops on her cheek.

//

Kara is rummaging through her fridge looking for something decent to eat–-and finding it ridiculously empty–-when she hears a knock on her door. She lowers her glasses and yelps when she sees Lucy standing on the other side. She walks hurriedly and opens the door with a yank.

“Lucy,” Kara says a little breathless and arranging her glasses. She smiles dopily and leans on the doorframe, hearing it crack, but not paying it any mind.

“I figured I owed you a thanks for saving me,” Lucy says as a way of greeting and smiles. “Yet again,” she wiggles her eyebrows and bounces the brown bags on her arms.

Kara chuckles and lets her in. Lucy goes straight into the kitchen and Kara follows her. Lucy starts taking out groceries while Kara stands there, not knowing what to do even in her own apartment.

“Um, Luce?” Kara starts and Lucy hums her distracted answer. “What are you doing?”

“I’m going to cook dinner. As a thanks for saving me.”

“What? Why?”

“I just told you,” Lucy looks back at her with a teasing smile on her face.

“Yeah, no, I get that. But why dinner? You could’ve just bought me ice cream or something.”

“Well, somebody told me that you probably wouldn’t have stacked your fridge. Plus, you need to lay off the pizza for a while.”

“Alex,” Kara groans.

“Yup,” Lucy says. “So, dinner? I make mean meatballs with pasta.”

Kara smiles softly. “Absolutely. Can I help?”

Lucy beams and puts her on chopping duties. Kara feels a little cocky and uses superspeed to cut everything before Lucy can finish putting the pasta in a pot. She wiggles her eyebrows when Lucy huffs in annoyance and laughs.

Kara passes her a beer, pours some sprinkled water for herself, and stands back to watch Lucy move around the kitchen. She cooks the same way she moves around the DEO: gracefully, but with purpose. Kara watches as Lucy’s brow furrows a little, as if she’s trying to remember a recipe Kara knows for certain that Lucy knows by heart. Kara smiles a little because Lucy moves around her kitchen, and her whole apartment, with ease and efficiency. Lucy knows where everything is, and knows where to look if what she’s looking for is not on its usual place. Kara cannot be blamed, there was no way for her to build up defenses against Lucy Lane and keep her at arms length.

Kara knows she’s staring, but seeing Lucy move around without the usual tenseness in her shoulders is mesmerizing. There’s a fluidity in her movements that Kara wonders if she can replicate on a canvas.

“Kara,” Lucy calls her attention without looking up from placing the meat on a plate.

Kara hums in reply.

“You’re staring.”

“Oh,” Kara blinks. “Sorry,” she clears her throat and finishes her drink in one gulp.

“If I wouldn’t know better, I’d say you were trying to set me on fire,” Lucy teases.

Kara chuckles and fumbles with her glasses. “Good thing that you do.”

Lucy hums. She then steps back and nods towards the meat. “Ever cooked a day in your life, Supergirl?”

Kara huffs and crosses her arms. “I am not a danger in the kitchen, no matter how much Alex says I am,” she steps closer to Lucy and bumps their shoulders together. “How can I be of service, chef Lane?”

“Well, how about you make the meatballs and I worry about cooking them, the sauce, and the pasta?”

“Sounds like a plan,” Kara smiles. She dips her hands in the meat and giggles. Lucy smiles at her and takes a sip of her beer.

“I’ve never done this before,” Kara admits.

“What? Use your kitchen?” Lucy smirks around the bottle.

Kara’s eyes fall on Lucy’s lips and swallows. “No. Making meatballs. Usually Eliza liked meat in steaks. And we usually cooked them in the grill. It was Alex’s favorite.”

“So you do know how to cook,” Lucy sounds surprised, and Kara tries to feel a little bit offended, but she can’t when Lucy is smiling at her like that.

“I’ll have you know Eliza appointed me as her assistant in the kitchen because Alex doesn’t even know how to use cutlery,” Kara defends herself and raises her chin. Lucy laughs and Kara feels her heart jump inside her chest. Oh, she’s in way too deep. She really needs to talk about it with Alex before she falls face first and ends up hurting herself.

But Lucy puts her at ease. Lucy makes her feel relaxed, like she doesn’t have to be anyone in order to impress her. She doesn’t have to be Kara Danvers: Cat Grant’s protégée, nor Supergirl: Girl of Steel. Kara likes spending time around Lucy because Lucy makes her feel comfortable with being just Kara. Sometimes (more often than not) awkward, sometimes (very few times) smooth, but always Kara and nothing else. And so, that’s how Kara ends up sharing more than she usually would: because Lucy is safe.

“When I first got here and got settled with the Danvers, Eliza thought it would be a great idea to get familiar with everything in the house by teaching me how to cook. I guess she knew by then that Alex was a lost cause,” Kara chuckles and looks at her hands making small meatballs with delicate movements.

“The first few times were a mess. I was trying to show her that I wasn’t useless and I broke a lot of stuff,” she looks at Lucy over her glasses and flexes her arm, enjoying Lucy’s chuckle. “A lot of plates and pots suffered damage because I didn’t know how to control my strength. But eventually, things got better. Eliza was always patient and I stopped breaking things and I started enjoying cooking with her,” she picks some meat from in between her fingers and sighs.

“I loved it. Cooking. The routine of it made my head stay calm. But every time I try to do it alone, I feel like I lack something that Eliza naturally has. Alex and I have some grills sometimes, and I end up cooking everything, but it’s not the same. There was some element, something that made it special,” Kara shrugs and looks at Lucy. She doesn’t know what to make of her expression because it’s so tender and touching that Kara wants to reach out and hug her. Instead, she cracks a joke, just like Alex taught her. “Maybe it was just cooking for Alex and seeing her ravage the food because it was good.”

Lucy laughs softly, but Kara knows it’s not a completely real laugh. She goes back to making meatballs, and then she feels Lucy getting closer and watches as she dips her hands in the meat as well.

“Well, then, let’s cook. We can save some for Alex.”

Kara smiles and looks down at Lucy. Lucy stares right back, and Kara realizes why she didn’t register that time she was so close to kissing her: because Lucy’s eyes are hypnotizing. And Kara knows that’s a cliché because every cheap romance novel mentions that trope at least twice, but seriously, Kara could get lost on Lucy’s eyes and she would not mind it one bit.

Kara is about to say something incredibly corny when her stomach growls loudly and breaks the moment. She blushes with intensity and looks down, embarrassed. Lucy laughs so low and so sincere that Kara kinda feels the embarrassment is worth it.

“Alright, Supergirl, let’s finish up because it sounds like the Kraken is gonna come out of your stomach and demand food at any time.”

They continue cooking, but they talk about lighter topics. At one moment, Lucy smears Kara’s cheek with some marinara sauce and laughs when Kara makes a mock surprised face and then narrows her eyes. Lucy starts backing away, her hands in the air, but still laughing.

“You didn’t,” Kara starts.

“No. No, no. Wait,” Lucy manages in between laughs. Kara dips her finger in the sauce and Lucy runs away. Kara smirks and catches up to her before she even leaves the kitchen. Kara wraps her arms around Lucy from behind and lifts her off the ground.

“Not fair! You have superpowers!” Lucy complains with a pout, leaning on Kara’s shoulder to look back at her.

Kara chuckles and smears some sauce on the tip of Lucy’s nose. Lucy makes a disgusted nose and tries to shrug out of Kara’s arms unsuccessfully. “Looks cute on you,” Kara says with a fond smile.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Kara nods.

“Kara?”

A hum.

“You smell like salt.”

Kara groans, but Lucy laughs, throaty and loud.

“Also, the pasta is gonna get burned.”

“Oh, Rao,” Kara lets Lucy go and stands back. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Lucy presses a kiss to her cheek before going back to the stove. Kara grins like an idiot, pushes her glasses up, and follows Lucy.

They finish having dinner, and Kara can tell that Lucy is really close to falling asleep on the chair. Lucy tried to keep up with Kara and ended up eating two servings of pasta too many. Kara chuckles and stands up. She washes all the dishes in a blur of superspeed.

“That does come in handy,” Lucy mentions around a yawn.

Kara chuckles, carefully lifts her from the chair, and carries her to the couch. “I’ll get you a blanket and a change of clothes.”

“I feel like we’ve been here before,” Lucy says while getting comfortable in the couch. “I should probably have a toothbrush around.”

Kara laughs nervously and bolts to her bedroom. She quickly finds the same clothes she lent Lucy the last time she spent the night. She breathes deeply twice. “Okay, keep it cool. Keep it together. You’ve got this,” she mumbles to herself.

When she returns, Lucy is already fast asleep. Kara shakes her head and smiles softly, she’s been doing that a lot around Lucy recently. She places the clothes on the coffee table and covers Lucy with the blanket. She turns off the light, and before she retires to her bedroom, Kara stops and runs her hand through Lucy’s hair.  
“Goodnight,” she says in Kryptonian.

Right before she goes to sleep, it hits her. The reason why cooking alone feels different is the company. With Eliza was a sense of calmness and a moment to stop all the frenzy of a new world. With Lucy is a sense of finally being at ease. Of lowering her walls and loosening her shoulders. Of putting the cape away and just being her.

Kara groans. She does have it bad.

//

Kara wakes up bright and early, and manages to do all of her routine in silence so she doesn’t wake Lucy up. Lucy is sprawled in the couch, sleeping soundly with her mouth open and bit of drool leaking out. The sight alone is enough to bring a fond smile to Kara’s face.

She’s about to make some breakfast, when her phone rings. She picks it up and has a hard time understanding what’s going on because Cat’s assistant is rambling and speaking faster than Kara thought humans were capable of. Kara tells him to slow down and asks him what he wants exactly. He says, with panic in his voice, that Cat wants her at CatCo right now and that she doesn’t seem to be in the mood for waiting. Kara sighs and drops her head. There goes her breakfast. She tells him she’ll be there soon, and when he starts to tell her that Cat really doesn’t want to be kept waiting Kara repeats that she’ll be there soon.

She hangs up and collects her stuff. She has half the mind to leave her spare key on the coffee table where Lucy can see it. She writes a quick note that says “had to run, Cat needs me. K.” and leaves.

She flies all the way to CatCo, checks the suit is well hidden underneath her shirt and takes the stairs down. Cat’s assistant–-Bobby, if Kara remembers correctly-–is fretting by his desk and looking at the elevators nervously, and he misses Kara walking up to him. Kara can see the relief flood his face the moment he sees her.

“Thank God you’re here. You’re the only one who can deal with her right now,” he says and nods towards Cat’s office. Cat, for her part, looks as calm as she will ever be on a day after an encounter between Supergirl and another alien. She’s sitting behind her desk, facing the screens.

“Her coffee?” Kara asks, not taking her eyes off the back of Cat’s chair.

“She already has it,” Bobby says.

Kara turns to him. “I suggest you go and buy another one. Scalding hot.”

Bobby swallows and bobs his head up and down. He fumbles for his jacket and wallet and bolts out of the half empty floor. Kara inhales and knocks on the door, poking her head in.

“Ms. Grant?” She calls.

Cat turns around in her chair, and Kara is not surprised to find her still wearing her sunglasses. By now Kara thinks she just keeps them on for dramatic effect.

“Kara,” Cat starts and stands up. Kara takes that as her cue to fully come in and close the door behind her. She stands by the coffee table and watches as Cat vaguely gestures with her sunglasses to the screens playing on a loop yesterday’s fight. “Any comments?”

Kara looks at the screens and winces when she sees the alien knock her into the ocean. She looks back at Cat, who has now closed the space between them and reaches out to arrange the collar of Kara’s shirt.

“It was a pretty strong alien,” Kara settles.

Cat hums. “And no insight knowledge?”

Kara smiles sweetly. “I cannot disclose that information, Ms. Grant. And even if I could, I know as much as you do.”

“Even with your Scully sister and Lucy Lane belonging to your underground cult?”

Kara frowns. “It’s not a cult, it’s an organization. And you know my sister’s name.”

“Big Danvers. Whatever,” Cat flourishes her hand and turns around, walking back to her chair. “You’ll be supervising and editing each and every piece about this fight that goes online. Try to make it as close to the truth as possible, considering you were actually in the fight.”

“Wouldn’t it be a little suspicious?” Kara asks.

“Well, I’m not asking you to write an apology for your alter ego, now, am I?” Cat huffs in annoyance. “Now, go forth and do some editing. Some articles should already be on your mail.”

Kara nods and looks at the screens again. In perspective, the alien does look bigger than her, not to mention threatening. Kara’s intention is not to brag, but to realize how close of a call it almost was. And if J'onn’s right…

“Kara?” Cat calls her attention. “What is it?”

“Nothing,” Kara sighs and shakes her head. She gives Cat a smile. “I’ll just go,” she points behind her.

“Will more like that come?” Cat asks, and if Kara didn’t know better, she’d say Cat sounds worried.

“I –,” she ponders the possibility of lying to her, but she realizes Cat deserves the truth. “I truly don’t know, Cat.”

“Will you have it under control?”

Kara nods briskly. “Always.” She leaves Cat’s office and leaves a note on Winn’s desk to recruit his help because if she’s gonna see herself on shakily recorded videos, she at least wants to listen to Winn’s commentary.

//

It’s a little past noon, Kara’s stomach hasn’t stopped growling, and she’s getting restless. For the past two hours she has done nothing but read someone else’s opinions on Supergirl’s fighting technique and way of dealing with alien situations. Winn has been on selecting-decent-videos-of-the-fight duty, and Kara has been politely suggesting them to the authors of the articles. She’s going out of variants of “I would suggest the following”. So far, she has given green light to two respectable, objective, and actually well written articles and sent her proof read version to Cat. Kara just hopes this ends soon.

Kara blames being too focused on her task for missing Lucy’s entrance to the floor, missing Winn’s effusive greeting by the elevators, and missing Lucy knocking on her door the first time. By the time Kara hears a second knock and looks up, Lucy is already leaning on the doorframe with two coffees and a bag of pastries in her hands. She’s wearing a business black suit and a lazy grin, and Kara’s day just got made.

Kara jumps out of her chair, surprised. Lucy has never set foot on CatCo ever since she quit, and while her presence at Kara’s door is a most pleasant surprise, it is still something out of the ordinary. Kara fiddles with her glasses, and shows Lucy in while trying to act as naturally as possible. She makes some space on her desk and pulls out a chair for Lucy to sit.

“If I had know I would be treated like this I would’ve come earlier,” Lucy teases her.

Kara laughs nervously. “I wasn’t expecting you?”

Lucy passes her a coffee. “I know. I had to go to the DEO first. There was an issue with the alien’s paperwork.”

“You guys know what species it is?”

“Not yet. J'onn doesn’t know and it isn’t on the Fort Rozz database,” Lucy says with a sigh.

“That’s weird,” Kara muses.

“Very,” Lucy agrees and opens the bag, presenting it to Kara. “Pick. I though you might enjoy the cinnamon roll.”

Kara sniffs before peeking into the bag. She moans in delight. “Rao, I could kiss you,” she snakes her hand into the bag and takes out the roll.

“Well, I might not be opposed to the idea,” Lucy shoots back with a wink and a smirk that makes Kara blush and cough violently around the bite of roll that she’s currently trying to eat. Lucy watches her reaction and raises an eyebrow, as if daring Kara to act on her words.

“I –,” she starts, but thankfully Winn interrupts them.

“You guys,” he barges in, holding a tablet in his hands. Lucy turns around to look at him, and if Kara dares to say, looks annoyed as she regards him.

“Kara, you didn’t tell me you fought a freaking kaiju!”

“A what?” Both Kara and Lucy ask in unison.

Winn looks first at Lucy. “A kaiju,” he gestures around him and tries to make himself look bigger. “A sort of sea monster. Looks a lot like this,” he shoves the tablet towards Lucy.

He then turns to Kara and points a menacing finger at her. “You know what a kaiju is. We watched _Pacific Rim_ together.”

“A kaiju?” Kara looks at the tablet in Lucy’s hands. Winn managed to find quite a decent video that captured the alien in its full, menacing glory. Kara is right in between the alien and the recorder of the video, but the alien looms over Kara. The alien does resemble that kind of creature, Kara has to admit, but she thinks this might be a lot more dangerous than just dinosaurs that come from the ocean. “Winn, I don’t really think that’s a kaiju. Kaijus are usually bigger.”

“Well, it sure looks like one,” he says, proudly.

“But those are fictional, right? I think it’s best to keep looking for its proper race before jumping into pop culture references,” Lucy says with her director of the DEO voice.

Winn actually pouts at that, but nods. He then presents Kara with all of the videos he compiled, and reminds her to have it ready before 5 pm so she can drop by Cat’s office and tame the beast.

“She’s being particularly impatient today and I don’t think poor Bobby is gonna make it through the day,” Winn says with a wince.

Kara sighs and rubs her temples. She cannot actually get a headache, but she feels the tension accumulating there and frankly it’s kind of annoying. “I’ll drop by, I promise.”

“Okay,” Winn fistbumps her and leaves.

“Cat Grant is being difficult? Who would’ve known,” Lucy comments.

Kara chuckles. “We may need you back in order to sort out all the resigns. I don’t like the new head of Legal, he’s too much of a brat.”

“Look at you, Kara Danvers, missing me,” Lucy smirks.

“Come on. You know I do.”

Lucy sighs. “I don’t know. This is too domestic, too fluffy. I want action,” she wiggles her eyebrows. “And turns out following a cute alien around just cuts it for me.”

Kara chokes with her own tongue. “C-cute?”

Lucy winks, and if Kara were human, she would’ve had already passed out from all the blood rushing to her head because Lucy Lane is suddenly being too forward and Kara doesn’t know what to do or how to react, and has it always been this hot in her office?

“Anyway,” Lucy says as she stands up. Some weird reflexes in Kara kickstart and she stands up as well, bumping her right knee on the desk and making a hole straight through it. Kara curses, but just lays a hand on the evidence, trying to hide it.

“Is the desk okay?” Lucy asks.

“I’ll just ask Cat for another,” Kara dismisses it with a hand and a shrug that is too exaggerated to be casual.

“This happens often?” Lucy says, amused.

“Not really. This is the first time it’s happened.”

“I’m flattered,” Lucy reaches into her pocket and produces a key. “I believe this belongs to you,” she extends her hand towards Kara, but Kara pushes it away from her with a shake of her head.

“You should keep it,” Kara says. “You know, for emergencies and stuff.”

“And stuff?”

“My door is always open if you bring food.”

Lucy chuckles. “Of course it is. Alright, Supergirl,” Lucy says as she rounds Kara’s desk and leans to drop a kiss on Kara’s cheek. “I’ll see you around.”

Kara feels the blush grow stronger on her neck and clears her throat. “Will you keep me updated on the kaiju?”

Lucy scrunches her nose. “We’re not calling it that, but yes.”

//

Cat stops by her office on her way out. Kara had to put off all of her work in order to have the articles about the kaiju attack ready for Cat.

Cat knocks on the open door and leans into it. “Supergirl putting extra time?”

Kara chuckles without humor. “Yeah, my boss gave me a lot of work.”

“How inconsiderate of her,” Cat sarcastically returns. She then waltzes into the room and perches on the arm of the couch. “I heard Baby Lane stopped by.”

Kara coughs and rearranges the collar of her shirt. “Yeah, she - she brought me breakfast.”

Cats hums. “How… domestic of her.”

“Really? I don’t – No, I don’t think – Lucy and I – we’re just really good friends, Cat,” Kara tries to explain and winces when her _explanation_ comes out as a mumbling mess.

“Of course, Kara. After all, I never once saw her bring Olsen breakfast when she worked here,” Cat says with a smirk.

Kara feels like a deer caught in the headlights because what is Cat implying? Lucy is just being friendly. Kara skipped breakfast in the morning, and Lucy, being the awesome and caring friend she is, brought her breakfast because that’s what friends do. And Lucy may have been a little more teasing than usual, but that was just because she was in a good mood. Kara thinks that whatever Cat is implying has no foundation and therefore Kara will not pay any mind to it, except she totally will at a later date.

“Anyways,” Cat says after a long pause where Kara just stared at her with a vaguely offended expression. “You should go home. You look like you’re about to pass out, and that cannot be good for National City’s favorite superhero.”

Cat walks out after delivering that line, and Kara just sits there for a little while pondering exactly what the heck Cat Grant had just implied about Lucy Lane.

//

Kara slumps on her couch, defeated. She absently chews on a slice of pizza and she’s sure her pout is obvious to Alex, but she’s too tired to hide it. For some strange reason, the whole day felt weird. Having Winn call the alien a kaiju, having Lucy around, and then having Cat put ideas on Kara’s head was just too much too soon.

“Why are you brooding?” Alex asks as she sits down and passes her a napkin.

“Lucy brought me breakfast today,” Kara says.

“Ah, yes. The Lucy Lane Matter,” Alex says around a smile. “How did your date with her last night go?”

“Date?” Kara asks, genuinely confused.

“Well, yeah. Did you think I sent her just because I didn’t want to see your Kryptonian face or what?”

“You sent Lucy, because you wanted me to have a date with her?”

“Yes, Kara,” Alex sighs.

“It wasn’t a date. We just cooked dinner together and she stayed the night, but it wasn’t a date,” Kara watches as Alex’s face does something weird after she says that. Kara doesn’t like that expression because it looks a lot like Alex is privy to something she is not simply because Alex knows her better than anyone else and has always been a very acute observer in her life. Kara considers that maybe if she continues talking, then a different expression will surface on Alex’s face. “Plus, she’s my friend. I’m her friend.”

“Yeah, and?”

“And she’s only thought of me as her friend.”

“Have you asked her?”

“No? I don’t have to,” Kara snaps her fingers and raises her eyebrows because she’s proud of that comeback.

Alex sighs. “Okay, whatever. What about breakfast?”

“She brought me breakfast because I skipped it early in the morning and Cat had me working on yesterday’s alien attack,” Kara makes it sound like a question. Alex nods for her to continue.

“Well, she brought me breakfast and then Cat, when she was about to leave, told me that she never saw Lucy bring James breakfast and then she said it was very domestic of her,” Kara finishes.

Alex hums and bites into her pizza. “So, when are you gonna ask her out?” She asks out of the blue and way too casually.

“What? Who?” Kara doesn’t follow.

“Cat Grant, of course,” Alex deadpans. Kara chokes on her pizza and makes a panicked face. Sure Cat is an attractive woman and all, but Cat is also her friend, boss, and mentor.

“What?!” Kara squeals.

Alex chuckles. “Easy. I’m talking about Lucy.”

Kara blushes and starts shaking her head. She watches as Alex smirks, and she starts preparing a full rant in which she denies all possible attraction to Lucy even if she’s terrible at lying and her crush is blatantly obvious to Alex. Kara is about to start spluttering sentences out when Alex places a hand on Kara’s bicep and squeezes to put an end to Kara’s embarrassment.

“I’m just saying, if Cat saw something there, there probably _is_ something.”

Kara dismisses it as she shoves a whole slice of pizza into her mouth. Alex makes a face, but decides not to comment on it. “It’s just Cat saying things.”

Alex shrugs. “Listen, if you ask Lucy out, she’ll probably say yes.”

Kara huffs and frowns. “That’s why I don’t ask.”

Alex sits back and crosses her arms. “Too shy or too scared?”

“Too busy!” Kara throws a pillow at Alex’s face, and is not sorry when she hears Alex’s pained groan.

“Alright! Fine!” Alex raises her arms in defeat.

“That’s what I thought.”

“What are you going to do with your crush, though?” Alex asks with sympathy in her eyes.

“Crush? What crush? Nobody has a crush around here.”

“Kara,” Alex warns.

Kara looks away and sighs. “I don’t know, Alex. I don’t wanna lose her as a friend. She’s important, you know? And I cannot risk our friendship just because I have this dumb crush. Like, what if it happens the same thing with James?”

Alex opens wide her arms and Kara falls right into them. Alex rubs her back and eases a hand through her hair. “It’s okay, we’ll figure it out.”

“Really?”

“Of course,” Alex drops a kiss on Kara’s forehead.

They stay silent for a while until Alex starts chuckling softly.

“What?”

“Supergirl has a crush,” Alex says in a deep, mocking voice.

Kara groans and pokes her in the side, laughing when Alex tries to squirm out of her grasp.

//

Kara stops by Winn’s desk after a small run in with petty criminals in the bank.

“Everything under control?” He asks, as he turns around in his chair.

“Easy peasy, lemon squeezy,” Kara winks. Winn beams at her. “Do we have anything else on the list?”

“Not for now,” Winn lowers his voice. “Any news on the kaiju front?”

Kara sighs. “No, not yet. Nor there has been another,” she fixes her glasses. “It does seem weird. J'onn said -” Kara stops. If her hearing doesn’t fail her–-and it never does, actually–-, then those footsteps are really familiar.

She vaguely registers Winn calling her name. She turns around and sure there she is. Lucy is walking up to them, more like strutting, wearing an easy smile. Kara stays rooted to her spot because Lucy is beautiful even in cargo pants and black t-shirts, but walking around CatCo like she belongs there is quite different from her persona at the DEO, yet equally mesmerizing.

“Hey,” Lucy says when she’s closer. She places a hand on Kara’s shoulder and leans in to kiss her cheek. “I was planning on sneaking up to you, but the Supersenses kicked in,” she then passes Kara a cup of coffee a paper bag from Noonan’s. “Brought your latte. Also, there are enough buns for you, but maybe you’ll share,” Lucy says and looks at Winn.

Kara accepts both of them and nods a little dumbly. She passes Winn the bag.

“Is James in?” Lucy asks to Winn.

“Yeah, he’s in his office,” he says.

“Okay,” Lucy smiles. She turns at Kara. “Can I drop by later?”

“Sure,” Kara answers even before Lucy is finished. Lucy smiles and waves before leaving. Kara follows her with her eyes until she doubles the corner to James’ office. She then turns around to Cat’s office to see if she didn’t catch any of that interaction because the last thing Kara needs right now is Cat teasing her. She breathes out when she finds Cat pacing around her office and moving her hands around, probably on a call.

“She brings you coffee now?” Winn asks, bringing Kara’s attention back.

“Apparently.”

“What’s up with that?”

"Nothing," Kara squeaks. "Nothing is up with that," she repeats and then sighs and frowns.

"Okay, whatever," Winn says distractedly, already munching on a cinnamon bun. Kara steals the bag from him and walks back to her office thinking the exact same thing: _whatever, it's just Lucy being friendly_.

//

Lucy does drop by Kara’s office after spending good 40 minutes in James’ office, not that Kara was counting, she’s just intrigued by Lucy’s visit because it’s clearly not related to an alien emergency. Lucy still knocks on the open door, even when Kara heard her walk all the way to her office. Kara only looks up from her computer after the knock and Lucy greets her with a smile.

“Am I interrupting?”

“Not really,” Kara leans back on her chair. “Work is boring, anyways.”

“Really? What are you doing?” Lucy walks up to the desk and rounds it, standing behind Kara’s chair.

“Editing the Trib’s entertainment section, reading way more gossip than I should, learning things about the Kardashians that I really shouldn’t know,” Kara sighs. “I think Cat’s trying to teach me a lesson, but I’m not sure which.”

Lucy laughs. “Lois used to complain about Cat’s gossip writing. Said Cat had eyes everywhere because everything she wrote about sooner or later ended up being true.”

Kara laughs and turns a little on her chair to face Lucy. Lucy takes it as an invitation and sits on the edge of her desk.

“So,” Kara starts. “News on our kaiju friend?”

Lucy shakes her head. “But it’s been quiet. It hasn’t tried to escape nor has become hostile.”

Kara frowns. “That is weird.”

“Yeah. Especially considering that it wasn’t pleased to meet you,” Lucy bumps her feet on Kara’s leg. “Have you stopped smelling like salt?”

Kara groans, but Lucy laughs. “Very funny, Director.”

“Cat didn’t notice?”

“No, because I’ll have you know that I only reeked of salt the first night,” Kara makes a face and sticks out her tongue.

“Lucky me, I got to experience that all by myself,” Lucy chuckles.

“Yeah, yeah, you love me anyways,” Kara says, and slams her mouth shut after saying that because that is not the right thing to say to the person you have a crush on. She watches carefully Lucy’s expression when she answers.

“Yes, actually,” Lucy says, a soft smile spreading through her features. Kara smiles back and the whole image–-Lucy perching on her desk like the furniture was built for that sole purpose and looking down at her with that smile–-is suddenly too much for Kara. She feels a blush coming up in her neck because Lucy is so pretty and Kara has this big, blaring crush on her, and would it really be a bad idea to lean in and kiss her?

And that’s how Cat catches them.

Although Kara is a little hesitant to say that Cat _catches_ them because that would imply that they were doing something indecent or completely unprofessional, which they totally weren’t as far as Kara is concerned. Kara was just staring, which she blames for not hearing Cat’s angry huff and her pointed steps as she left her office. Kara should’ve been paying attention to her surroundings because her office door is wide open and anyone could walk in and see Kara and Lucy sharing a _moment_. But no, Kara was too busy staring at Lucy to notice anything else.

Cat storms in waving some layouts and complaining about the incompetence of half of the design staff, when she stops dead in her tracks and looks at them with a critical eye and raised eyebrows. Kara pushes her chair back a little too hard and she ends up against the wall. Lucy looks surprised at the sudden distance, but then turns to see Cat standing there.

“Oh. Better Lane,” Cat greets. “I wasn’t aware you were busy, Kara.”

Kara stands up quickly and smooths down her skirt, fiddling with her glasses. She very much avoids Lucy’s eyes. “I’m – we were –,” Kara shakes her head. “What– what can I do for you, miss Grant?”

“Nothing much,” Cat smirks, and Kara feels uneasy because when Cat smirks things usually don’t end well for her. “I’m sure whatever Baby Lane has to say is more interesting.”

Lucy stands up from Kara’s desk with reluctance. “I was just leaving, Cat.”

“No, no. By all means, stay. Although I will only allow this one time. I need Kara at the top of her game, and that means no interruptions. Particularly if they come from her girlfriend,” Cat delivers in such a cool way that Kara would be impressed by if she wasn’t busy dying.

Kara chokes on air and she’s sure she’s just as red as a traffic sign. She risks a look at Cat and finds her smirking wider and waving a hand in the air in Kara’s general direction, as if to cement her point further. Kara is mortified and she’s silently praying for the earth to swallow her whole, but when she turns to look at Lucy, the director seems unaffected, yet the glare she is sending Cat’s way expresses something different. Kara thinks it weird, but decides to let it go in order for this whole situation to just end because she’s ready to flee.

“I’ll come back later,” Cat announces, looking pointedly at Kara, and turns around, walking to the door. “Oh,” Cat says, as if she were forgetting something. Kara squirms on her feet because she’s not sure she can handle more embarrassment. “I expect you to pay me a visit the next time you’re around, Lucy. Meanwhile, behave,” she says with a freaking _wink_ and leaves.

Kara is definitely ready to bury her head in the ground and never see the light of day again. The last thing she needs is Cat teasing her and now she won’t be able to look at Lucy in the eye again. However, Lucy is interested in testing that.

“Hey, you okay?”

“Me?” Kara says in a really high pitched voice. “I’m fine,” she says in a lower tone. “I’m super fine. Supergirl, superfine,” Kara laughs nervously and gives Lucy two thumbs up. “Superfine. Why wouldn’t I be?”

Lucy nods slowly. “Because you look like your head’s about to explode.”

“Yeah,” Kara starts to gesture wildly with her hands and arranges her glasses. “Yeah, it’s the – it’s the heat. Yeah, it’s burning up in here, don’t you think?”

Lucy narrows her eyes and smiles out of politeness. “No, it doesn’t seem to me.”

“Oh, well,” Kara laughs awkwardly. “Must be a Kryptonian thing,” she fiddles with her glasses again.

“Okay,” Lucy says. “My break is over, so,” she trails off.

Kara nods with enthusiasm. “Yeah, sure.”

Lucy leans to give Kara a kiss on the cheek, but Kara thrusts her hand forward, keeping the distance. “I – I’ll see you around,” Kara says, way too chirpily.

Lucy shakes her hand and looks at her weird. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Totally,” Kara bobs her head. “Absolutely. A hundred percent okay.”

“Alright,” then Lucy looks down at their hands. “I need my hand.”

“Oh, yes, sorry,” Kara lets go and fiddles with her glasses. She watches as Lucy leaves and when she’s sure Lucy is no longer in the same floor, she groans loudly.

//

She waits until Winn packs all of his stuff for the day and walks out with him. She really needs to talk about her crush on Lucy with someone else who’s not Alex, and Cat is not an option. So, she figures Winn might give her some perspective.

“Hey,” she says as they’re riding the elevator down, “remember that time you told me I would know when love would hit me because it would be all,” and she makes that ridiculous _k-paw_ sound Winn made.

Winn nods. “Yeah, why?”

“What if it mercilessly punched me in the face and knocked me out?” Kara says and she’s sure her face is the perfect picture of worry.

Winn snorts, confusing Kara further. “You’re Supergirl,” he says as if it that were explanation enough. “Nothing can knock you out.”

Kara smiles sadly. “I think this did.”

Winn cocks his head to the side. “What’s wrong? It’s good, right? Being so in love that it knocks you out.”

“No. I don’t know. It’s weird. I’m just so nervous around her and she’s been doing some things that–” Kara stops babbling and slaps a hand over her mouth, widening her eyes.

“Her?” Winn presses. He frowns and Kara can imagine he’s thinking about it. Finally, he connects the dots and his eyes sparkle. Kara swallows down the groan. “I knew there was something weird happening with Lucy! Bringing you coffee and making a babbling mess out of you. I mean, you buy her favorite beer; I think that’s telling enough. Plus, you two look more comfy than usual when you’re together.”

“Winn, you can’t tell James,” Kara warns.

“I won’t. It’s not for me to tell,” Winn assures her. “So, when did it start?”

Kara sighs and they walk out of the elevator. She was planning on flying around for a few hours before turning in, but walking with Winn sounds like a better idea. “I’m not sure. One day I just realized I had a crush on her and it all went downhill from there.”

“If you ask me,” he starts, stuffing his hands on his pockets and bumping his shoulder with hers. “I think she’s as equally invested.”

Kara does groan at that. “Alex said the same thing. Like, you guys cannot be sure of that.”

“And have you asked her out or something?”

“No?” Kara can’t help but to phrase it like a question out of uncertainty.

“Then neither can you,” Winn throws his arms around. “Kara, you’re funny, and brave, and you care so much. Lucy would be lucky to have you.”

“And what if she doesn’t? What if she realizes being Supergirl takes a lot of quality time out of our relationship? We’re better as friends, Winn, I know that.”

“And yet you want her to be more than your friend,” Winn wiggles his eyebrows.

Kara huffs out a small laugh. “Yeah,” she kicks around the pavement.

“So what happened today? Why did you decide to tell me?”

Kara winces. “Technically I didn’t want to tell you and it just sort of slipped out?” Winn pokes out his tongue. “But, ermm, Cat called her my girlfriend today and I haven’t been able to think about anything else.”

Winn laughs. “Cat is teasing you about it?”

“Yes, and it’s not nice!”

“I bet it’s not,” Winn shares a sympathetic smile. “And you don’t wanna try because…”

“Because I’m not very good at relationships,” Kara starts. “And because I don’t wanna mess our friendship up. Look what happened with James and how long we couldn’t look at each other in the eye. And even now, we don’t talk that much.”

“You can’t let one bad relationship dictate a whole dating experience. It’s not fair to you,” Winn points out. Kara knows he’s right, but there’s just something so nice about her current relationship with Lucy and she doesn’t want to mess that up. Lucy makes her feel at ease. She doesn’t want to jeopardize that just because she decided to act on a crush that was not mutual, no matter what Alex, Cat, and now Winn seem to think.

“You’ve been silent enough so I know you know I’m right,” Winn says with a cheeky smile. Kara slaps his arm softly. “I’m serious, Kara. You should give it a try. Or at least ask her.”

Kara makes a face. Winn places a hand on her arm. “Just try, okay? You deserve to be happy. Besides, your cousin is already dating Lois. Wouldn’t it be nice to keep it in the family?” He chuckles.

Kara punches him and feels no guilt when he recoils with a pained yelp.

//

Kara broods all night long. She doesn’t mean to. She’s just half-heartedly picking on ice cream and watching old reruns of Friends when she realizes she’s brooding, and the realization just makes her brood more. As if sensing it, Alex calls her.

“You’re brooding, are you not?”

Kara scoffs, the spoon in between her teeth. “No. I don’t brood.”

“Yes, you do,” Alex accuses her.

Kara sighs. “Alright, I might be brooding a little bit.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because everyone keeps telling me to go for it with Lucy, but none of you can be sure of it.”

“Who’s everyone?” Kara listens as Alex shifts around.

“You, Winn, and Cat.”

“And don’t you think there might be some truth to what we’re saying?”

“I don’t know!” Kara cries out and lifts her free arm.

“Okay, okay, want me to drop by and we’ll talk about it?” Alex suggests.

“No, no, I - I think I need to solve this out by myself,” Kara sighs again and stabs the pint of ice cream, the spoon going through and breaking the bottom. Kara huffs impatiently.

“Hey, sis,” Alex waits until she knows she has Kara’s attention.

“Yeah?” Kara says in a small voice.

“I love you.”

“I love you.”

“Get some sleep,” Alex says before hanging up.

Kara tosses her phone to the end of the couch and sighs. Looking back, she’s starting to get convinced that Lucy might return her feelings. After all, Lucy’s been particularly flirty lately, and Kara has been deep in denial to not notice it at first sight. She trusts Alex, but Alex is clearly biased. She trusts Cat, but Cat enjoys teasing her. At this point, the one Kara trusts the most is Winn, because he is just as thick as her and even he noticed. But that’s not enough for Kara to take the plunge.

She knows it’s too late to deny her feelings for Lucy, particularly with the way Lucy makes her feel at ease; that is something Kara had never felt before, not even with James. Kara also knows that talking to Lucy can be put off until it becomes a pressing weight that Kara can no longer live with; Kara gives it around a month, at this pace, for it to reach that point. But then again, what if Kara finds the guts to talk to Lucy? Even worse, what if Lucy actually wants to try? What is Kara going to do then? Life experience has taught her that everything ends: worlds, families, relationships. Kara cannot sacrifice both her personal and professional relationship with Lucy just for a-–possibly fleeting-–romantic relationship. Kara doesn’t want to lose Lucy. What if everything goes wrong and Lucy decides to leave? Kara cannot have that; Lucy belongs in the DEO.

She wants to call Clark. Ask him how in the hell did he manage to fall in love with a Lane and live to tell the tale. Ask him what did he offer to Rao so he could manage both of his identities and still get the girl. Ask him just how does he do it. Kara just wants to know how does he do it. How is he the perfect hero and an incredible boyfriend when Kara was supposed to teach him. What lesson did she miss? How did Clark manage it without her guidance?

Kara groans and stands up. She tosses the pint of melted ice cream in the fridge and changes into her suit. She’s just decided she won’t be getting any sleep tonight, not with how restless her thoughts are.

//

Sometimes Kara really hates being so stubborn and not listening to Alex. She particularly regrets staying up all night and spending most of that time perched on CatCo’s roof, staring at the city lights and then at the sunrise. She regrets it because Cat puts her on digging duties on Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford’s latest scandal and Kara should really not be reading such explicit comments.

Kara knows she’s distracted because she’s trusting her powers and autopilot mode to do all of her job, but she just can’t stop thinking about Lucy. She’s having an internal battle about whether or not she should talk to her and try something more than friendship, and it’s taking all of her mind space. She’s so distracted she even misses her lunch hour.

Two hours later, Winn tries to pry her out of her office, but she declines his offer. James even tries to get her to fly them to Chicago to grab a burger from Alex’s favorite food truck, but she makes up a flimsy excuse. What finally drags her out of her office is Cat’s call expressing the incompetence of her assistant and asking her to grab her a cheeseburger salad and to grab something for herself because she hasn’t seen her out of her office in all day and she thought for a minute that she had starved to death.

Kara scoffs, but agrees. She buys Cat a burger from her favorite stand and a salad, to keep up appearances. Kara stops to buy some potstickers for herself. When she shows up at Cat’s office with the takeout bags, Cat stands up from her desk, drops her glasses, and nods to the balcony. Kara takes out Cat’s food and then hers. They sit in silence, watching the sunset. Kara really enjoys the view from Cat’s balcony, it’s like time slows down there.

“Kiera, you’re distracted,” Cat says offhandedly, stabbing a lettuce with way too much force.

Kara snaps her head towards Cat and frowns–-she worked hard to keep Cat from using that name. “Miss Grant?”

“I said, you’re distracted.”

“I heard you, it’s just I’m not sure what you mean.”

“I was hoping you could tell me,” Cat finally looks at her and bites on a tomato.

“Tell you what?” Kara treads carefully, buying herself some time because she doesn’t know if she wants Cat to find out why she’s distracted.

“What is it?” Cat says with little patience, but her eyes are soft. “Is it Olsen? Because I thought that was already over and moved on.”

“No, no, it’s not James,” Kara dismisses, going to adjust her glasses.

“Okay, if it’s not Olsen, then who?” Cat muses out loud. Kara looks away and chews on a potsticker. “Cannot be the IT hobbit, he’s too clumsy, and he seems to have a bad girl type,” Cat hums and pierces Kara with a look, as if trying to unveil all of her secrets. Kara swallows nervously.

“Why are we considering the root of my distraction to be of romantic nature?” Kara tries to laugh it off.

Cat narrows her eyes. “Oh, but it is,” she rubs at her chin.

A few moments pass by, Cat keeps her eyes on Kara, and Kara tries her best not to fidget in her seat due to all the attention. Finally, Cat gasps and opens her eyes in surprise.

“This is about the Better Lane,” she says and sounds too proud for having figured it out.

Kara opens her mouth to deny everything, but no sound comes out. Her eyes are wide, and she’s sure her reaction has given Cat all the confirmation she needed. Cat chuckles humorlessly and bites her burger.

Cat lets Kara simmer in her anxiety and nervousness for a while. Then, she says, smirking, “would you look at that? There must be something in those Lane genes that lures Kryptonians in.”

“No, Cat -” Kara starts and stops when Cat raises her hand and takes a sip of her scotch.

“Kara, she’s a Lane. The Lighthouse Technique will not work on her. She’s smarter than that,” Cat tells her, and there’s a glint in her eyes that Kara hasn’t seen since the _thing_ with Adam, and she’s not ashamed to admit that she’s a little bit afraid.

“Good choice, Kara. You can’t do much better than Lucy Lane,” Cat adds as an afterthought.

“It’s not like I’m going to do anything about it, anyways,” Kara dismisses, dropping her food and looking towards the sunset.

“Why on Earth wouldn’t you do something about it?” Cat sounds slightly offended. Kara swallows, but refuses to turn to her. “Kara, she’s smart and competitive; I guess she’s beautiful, but she spends too much money on yoga pants.”

Kara chuckles and closes her eyes. “Yeah, but -”

“No, no excuses Girl of Steel,” Kara turns to Cat and finds a hard look staring back at her, as if Cat can’t believe what she’s hearing.

“Cat, it’s complicated. There are too many factors at stake and –”

“Well, _what_ were you _expecting_?” Cat almost hisses. “You’re Supergirl and Lucy Lane is, well, a Lane, she’s not exactly what you would call uncomplicated. Both of you risk your lives every day keeping this city safe. Both of you have complicated lives and there’s no one better than you two who understands that struggle.”

Kara is taken aback. She sits there, knowing Cat is not finished, and honestly? She’s surprised Cat cares so much.

“If you think that jumping into a relationship while you’re still flying around in that ridiculous suit is going to be easy, well, Kara, I have some news for you: it’s never going to be easy,” Cat stands up and looms over her. Kara looks up, properly stunned, but _listening_.

“All that’s worth it is never easy, Kara. And how many times do I have to tell you that you can do whatever you want as long as you put your mind to it?” Cat finishes, exasperated.

“Cat -”

Cat shushes her with a raised finger. Kara shuts her mouth closed and waits. Cat takes a gulp of her whiskey and sits back down.

“Lucy is a Lane, she’s stubborn. But she also knows when to back down and disappear forever. And trust me, Kara, you don’t want to lose Lucy Lane.”

“And what if I lose her because we jumped into something that we were both not ready to do?” Kara lets out in a rushed breath.

“You really have no idea, do you?” Cat chuckles. “You can’t be afraid of what ifs, Kara. Your life will run out if you keep worrying over that. Take the plunge.”

“But Cat -” Kara tries.

“Take the plunge, Kara,” Cat says with finality. And Kara wants to believe her, because when Cat lets her guard down and Kara realizes how fond of her Cat is, she feels like she can do anything. If Cat Grant believes so blindly and so fiercely in her, what’s going to stop her?

Kara stands up and packs up her food. “I’m going to talk to Lucy, but I don’t promise much.”

“Something tells me you will be surprised with the outcome,” Cat comments, but she goes back to her salad.

Kara stares at her for a while. “Thank you, Cat. For everything.”

“It’s the least I can do,” Cat dismisses her with a flick of her hand, but her eyes are soft and there’s a hint of a smile Kara suspects is only reserved for her.

//

Kara flies to her apartment and starts pacing, pondering on telling Lucy everything over the phone or flying to her place. Kara is considering in which situation she might be able to hold onto her nerve a little better when someone knocks at her door. Kara’s heart starts beating too fast, because it can’t be Lucy, can it? When she lowers her glasses and looks through the door, she swears she almost goes into cardiac arrest because it _is_ Lucy at the other side of her door.

She flings the door open and smiles softly at Lucy. “Hey.”

“Hey yourself,” Lucy returns. “Are you okay?”

Kara’s smile falters a bit. “Yeah, why?” She lets Lucy in.

“I don’t know. Yesterday you were acting weird, and you didn’t show up to the DEO today, and James told me he couldn’t pry you out of your office with food,” Lucy stops in the middle of the apartment and looks at Kara with concerned eyes. “I was worried.”

“Oh, Lucy,” Kara steps closer and goes to hug her, but Lucy stops her.

“Did I do something wrong?” Lucy asks.

Kara tilts her head. “Wrong? No, no. You haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Then what’s going on?” Lucy takes a step towards her, and Kara’s heart rate picks up again. She swallows nervously and decides right there that this whole nonsense stops now.

“I’ve been weird because I’ve been avoiding, or dealing poorly, with certain stuff,” Kara starts, moving her hands around, her eyes fixed on Lucy’s. “And by stuff I mean my feelings. I’ve been… afraid to take some risks. And Alex and Winn and Cat have told me to go for it, but I just didn’t dare because I’m stubborn like that and also because there was too much at stake, you know?” Kara knows she’s fully rambling now, but Lucy is still looking at her with all her attention. “And I just talked to Cat and she finally convinced me to go for it, so I thought _to hell with it_ , you know?”

Lucy nods, and Kara is staring, but Lucy’s eyes always manage to draw her in and she can’t help it anymore. She won’t fight it anymore.

“To hell with it,” Kara whispers and closes the distance between them. One of her hands cups Lucy’s cheek and Kara bends down a little and softly kisses Lucy. Kara feels her heart beat dangerously hard against her ribcage when Lucy kisses her back, and her other hand comes up by its own accord and tangles in Lucy’s hair. Lucy places her arms around Kara's neck and Kara cannot help but swoon in Lucy's embrace. This kiss is everything she's ever wanted and she never wants it to stop, and Kara’s only coherent thought is _finally, finally_. Kara breaks the kiss and smiles, adjusting her angle and going in for another one, but she bumps her nose a little harshly into Lucy's cheek and Lucy yelps.

Lucy pushes her back softly. “Kara, wait.”

“What?” Kara still has her eyes closed because she can't believe she just kissed Lucy _freaking_ Lane. She cannot believe she finally had the guts to do it and that Lucy kissed her back.

Lucy touches Kara's face, tracing her smile and the outline of her eyebrows, stopping briefly on the scar over the left one. Kara finally opens her eyes and it's then that she realizes she kissed Lucy without her consent and she starts to panic.

"Oh, Rao. I'm so sorry. I should've asked. I shouldn't have just assumed -" Kara stops when Lucy places one of her fingers across Kara's lips.

"It took you a while," Lucy chuckles.

Kara breathes out in relief and lowers her eyes to the floor. She feels Lucy's hands on her face again and looks up. Lucy is looking at her like Kara is personally responsible of putting the stars in the sky, and Kara just smiles.

"I think," Lucy starts, grabbing Kara's glasses with both hands. She slowly slips them off Kara's ears and nose, and Kara closes her eyes, sighing, "that these are a bit of an obstacle."

Kara opens her eyes when Lucy finally takes the glasses from her and smiles harder when Lucy just lets them fall to the ground. Kara holds Lucy close and kisses her again.

//

They end up laying on Kara's bed, staring at the ceiling and chuckling about nothing.

"I cannot believe it took you this long to realize I was hitting on you," Lucy starts.

"Hey," Kara pokes her in the ribs, and Lucy squirms a little. "You know I'm dense."

"You're not just dense," Lucy kisses her nose. "You're super dense."

Kara pouts. "Okay, now that is just offensive." And holds Lucy close, dropping a kiss on her forehead.

"Can I ask you something?" Lucy asks, with her head against Kara's chest and one arm draped around her waist.

"Yeah."

"The first night I stayed over, why didn't you kiss me?"

"I -," Kara shifts a little. "I guess I wasn't aware I wanted to. That was the first time I realized I liked you."

Lucy hums, and Kara can feel her thinking. "Why didn't _you_ kiss me?" Kara counters.

"I don't know. I thought I was projecting. Plus, you had just recently broken up with James."

Kara nods. "By the way, could we tell him first? I feel like he deserves to know from us."

"Tell him what?" Lucy raises her head and regards Kara with a mischievous smile.

Kara swallows. "Well, that we - you know, that - that we are," she stutters and moves one hand around, trying to explain herself.

"That we are?" Lucy prompts.

"A thing?" Kara tries.

Lucy laughs. "Kara," she sits up, and Kara follows. "Would you like to be my girlfriend?"

Kara blushes and she doesn't know why. She smiles wide and bright and nods enthusiastically, and smiles wider when Lucy chuckles and kisses her.

After several kisses, Kara draws back. "Yes, Lucy Lane, I'd love to be your girlfriend."

//

They fall asleep together, Lucy slightly on top of Kara, and Kara holding her in place.

Kara wakes up in the middle of the night and simply stares at Lucy in the faint glow of the lights outside. Lucy's heartbeat is loud and clear for Kara to hear, and it keeps rhythm with a few grasshoppers outside. Kara reaches for her phone, and notices it's 1:44 am. She has a feeling Alex is still awake. She opens her messaging app and selects Alex's name.

_I kissed her. And she kissed me back._

She waits two minutes, glancing between the screen and Lucy's sleeping form beside her. Her phone vibrates in her hand.

_About time you hard headed kryptonian._

Kara smiles, locks her phone, and settles back to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one was quite the monster, but you guys don't seem to mind the extensive length of my chapters so that's a win-win for everyone c:


	4. bend (pt. 1)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am super sorry for the 6 month + wait. i have no excuse other than school and life. i had to split this chapter in two bc it was getting really long. however, i feel like after this two-part chapter the only natural decision is to finish the fic, and so the sixth chapter will be the very last one. we have a new thing in this one and that is lucy's pov alternated with kara's. also, no editing we die like men. have fun, my buds.

Her eyes flutter open and she can feel the sunlight on her face. A lazy smile crawls its way onto her face and she sighs. She stretches, and her hand falls on the other side of her bed, still a little warm. Kara smiles fully now as she tunes her senses into consciousness. She can smell the coffee brewing from the kitchen, she can hear a strong and constant heartbeat, and she's sure that if she looks through the walls, she'll see Lucy Lane standing in her kitchen.

She lazily stretches across the bed and yawns before sitting up and swinging her legs to the side. She stands up and rolls her neck, hearing a pleasant crack. Kara pads out of the bedroom and stops short at the sight before her: Lucy, in one of Kara's jerseys, barefoot, leaning against the counter and staring out of the window. Kara just stands there, breathing, soaking in the sunlight and marveling at Lucy.

Lucy must feel Kara's eyes on her because she turns and smiles.

"Hey," she says, voice still rough from sleep.

Kara smiles wide and takes slow strides to meet Lucy. Kara envelops her in a hug and kisses her temple. Then, she stands back and dives to kiss Lucy. Kara takes her time; she nibbles on Lucy's lower lip and slowly, almost teasingly, deepens the kiss. Kara's fingertips settle on Lucy's hips, roaming, but not gripping.

Lucy places her hands on Kara's chest and draws back slowly. Kara watches as a lazy grin settles on Lucy's face and she just feels giddy. Giddy and warm. Feels the most normal she's ever felt and thinks it cannot get more normal than this. Her mother may not have sent her to Earth to fall in love with a human and feel normal, but Kara feels like this is quite the bonus to having superpowers, and she will be damned if she doesn't protect this feeling, this peacefulness that seems to blossom only around Lucy.

"Well," Lucy starts, her eyes fluttering open, "good morning, Supergirl."

Kara beams at her. "Good morning indeed, Director Lane. Had a good night's sleep?"

"Oh, yes," Lucy leans in and kisses Kara's cheek, then her jaw, then bites playfully at Kara's neck. "I had a wonderful cuddle partner."

Kara, on a surge of bravery and because she's feeling quite at ease, blurts out, "said partner can do more than just cuddle, you know?" And she blushes when she finishes.

Lucy raises her eyebrows, surprised. "Is that a proposition?"

Kara shrugs, trying to play it cool. "Yeah, I guess."

Lucy kisses her. "I will accept it in the near future, Supergirl."

"I am delighted to hear that, director Lane."

"Meanwhile, and because I know you, what about some breakfast?"

Kara sighs, pleased. "You do know me. Pancakes?" And she hops up and down, excited at the prospect of food.

Lucy laughs. "I'll get the batter ready."

While Lucy basically does all the work, Kara cannot help but to stare. Lucy looks so soft and relaxed, content in spending her morning in Kara's kitchen cooking pancakes and humming along to a nameless song. Kara's fingers tingle to touch her, to run her hands through Lucy's hair, to tickle all of Lucy's sensible spots, to slide her fingers across Lucy's collarbones, to trace patterns of constellations long gone over Lucy's shoulder blades.

But most of it all, Kara just wants to be close to her, to be enveloped in this sense of calmness and normalcy that she's craved ever since she landed on this planet. Kara wants to forget about the cape for a while, wants to shut down her heroism in order to wrap her head around the fact that this gorgeous, fierce, and strong woman likes her back. That actually Lucy has been waiting for her to come around and say something; that Lucy waited and never pushed. Kara needs to process that she's now able to kiss Lucy whenever she wants to—as long as Lucy wants it too—and that they are charting into a new relationship.

Kara halts her thoughts. Yes, they agreed to a relationship last night, and while it makes Kara giddy, she is still a little nervous, a little wary, because for all that she wants to just be Kara Danvers, she knows that eventually her Supergirl duties will come barreling through the door and her time with Lucy will be cut short. Except, Kara thinks, Cat may be right. Lucy may be the only one, sans Alex, who knows how demanding the job can be and just how unpredictable. After all, she's been saving the city with Lucy on her corner for a while now, and they'll continue to do so as a couple. A power couple, Kara thinks with a giggle.

"You're staring, Kara," Lucy teases, but doesn't look at her. And Kara is guilty, after all, Lucy is whirring the ingredients together with a fork and Kara can see the strain on her tanned bicep.

Kara smiles, her eyes crinkling with the intensity of her grin. "Am I?"

Lucy makes an assertive hum. "What are you thinking about?"

"You," Kara says simply, softly, but with enough devotion to make Lucy turn to look at her.

"Is that so?" Lucy asks with a raised eyebrow and a smirk. Kara hums her answer. "What about me?"

"That you're beautiful. So beautiful. I cannot believe you're my girlfriend."

And it's true. Kara may have been to almost a dozen different planets, but she has never met someone like Lucy. Lucy glows; Lucy commands any room she steps in, and her eyes demand attention. Kara keeps finding herself drawn to Lucy as if by force of magnetism. And maybe, looking back, her crush was inevitable, but Kara would've never imagined that standing in her kitchen with Lucy during a slow morning was achievable.

Kara watches as Lucy gets an unreadable expression on her face, but Kara can swear that her eyes are shining. Not with tears, but with something else, something that Kara is still a little afraid to name. She feels the sudden need to show Lucy exactly how much in awe Kara is of her and closes the distance between them to place a kiss on Lucy's lips.

Kara is aiming for soft yet thorough, but Lucy has other ideas. Kara listens as the bowl Lucy was previously whirring is tossed on the counter and feels as Lucy's hands tangle in her hair, gripping and guiding, deepening the kiss. Lucy's tongue tangles with hers, and Kara cannot help but to moan. Her hands close in on Lucy's hips, squeezing, and she moves on autopilot. Kara backs Lucy into the kitchen counter, feeling Lucy's moan run down her whole body and giving a moan in return.

Lucy breaks the kiss and guides Kara towards her neck, Kara all too glad to please, feeling Lucy's hands sneak under her shirt. Kara kisses the column of Lucy's neck, almost reverently, as if she is studying the muscles and the tendons to later reproduce them on marble and steel. Kara hears Lucy sigh, and she decides that it's just not enough. She begins to nip and lightly bite, paying attention to the sounds Lucy makes, remembering where to put more pressure and where to lightly graze so Lucy can urge her to repeat the motion. Kara bites the space between Lucy's ear and jaw and receives a frankly indecently loud moan. Kara smirks, feeling confident, and sucks Lucy's earlobe into her mouth.

Kara grabs Lucy's thighs, squeezes, and lifts her onto the counter, Lucy's legs settling around Kara's waist and trapping her in place. Lucy lets out a breathless gasp and Kara catches her lips in another kiss, settling her hands firmly on the counter, in order to avoid bruising Lucy accidentally. In the back of her mind, Kara makes a note to not lean too heavily into the counter, but then Lucy's nails rake down her back and Lucy's tongue flickers on the roof on her mouth and Kara's brain shortcuts. She places all her weight on her arms, feels the wood of the counter give, hears the crack, and barely has time to hold Lucy against her while the counter crumbles to the floor.

Lucy yelps, wraps her arms around Kara's neck, and turns her head around to see the counter toppled over. Kara just stares at the counter broken at two legs because it was a gift from Eliza when Alex originally moved in here, and she's already dreading the explanation she'll have to give. Kara starts when she hears Lucy's laugh against her chest.

"What?" Kara asks with a pout, and she has to wait for Lucy to get a hold on her laughter for a while.

"I guess I should be flattered that you keep breaking furniture around me," Lucy says and Kara can tell she's holding back tears at the hilarity of the situation.

"Keep breaking?" Kara frowns. As far as she can recall, this is the first piece of furniture she's broken because of Lucy.

"Your desk at CatCo?"

Kara blushes as she remembers. "Yeah, well – that," she coughs and tries again, "that was just misplacement of... my knee."

Lucy laughs, throwing her head back. Then she looks down at Kara and smiles. "Are you going to let me down, Supergirl?" Lucy wiggles her eyebrows.

Kara clears her throat and looks down. "Yes, yeah – totally. Sorry," she says as she lets Lucy down. She then puts her hands on her waist and looks at the broken counter, as if it were offending her.

"What's up?" Lucy asks, tucking herself at Kara's side. Kara immediately wraps her arm around Lucy's shoulders and holds her closer.

"That wasn't mine."

"It's at your place."

"Yeah," Kara sighs. "But Alex used to live here before I did and Eliza gave her that as a house warming gift," Kara says, making air quotes around the last words.

"Can you fix it?" Lucy asks, pecking Kara's cheek.

"I once tried to help a family ensemble an Ikea table. It was a mess."

"You tried to do what?" Lucy laughs.

"It was after the red kryptonite incident!" Kara says defensively, pouting.

"And you thought the fastest road to redemption was to ensemble furniture?" Lucy receives another pout in response.

"Can _you_ fix it?" Kara asks.

"Oh, Kara," Lucy chuckles. "The only use I've given to a hammer is a potential weapon," she says, and Kara gives her a puzzled—if not a little frightened—look. "Maybe Clark can fix it. See if growing up in a Kansas farm taught him something."

"I don't really wanna explain to Clark why I broke the counter," Kara mumbles, avoiding eye contact.

"Well," Lucy pats Kara's tummy, "we can always ask Alex to fix it."

Kara groans and hides her face with her hand.

Lucy laughs again, leaves Kara's side, and goes back to the forgotten batter. Kara looks at her retreating back, but tries not to let her eyes wander, considering that was what got them breaking furniture in the first place.

"Do superheroes not help with breakfast?" Lucy calls.

Kara rushes to the kitchen and stops right behind Lucy, resting her chin on Lucy's shoulder. She kisses the column of Lucy's neck and smiles, pleased, when Lucy does a fairly good impression of a purr.

"Keep your hands to yourself, Kara," Lucy warns, but leans back into Kara.

Kara smirks. "My hands aren't doing anything."

Lucy huffs. "Make yourself useful. I'm hungry."

Kara laughs and butters the pan.

//

It's Saturday, and everything Lucy wants to do is stay in bed with Kara all day, watch silly movies, make out, and eat obscene amounts of pizza. However, Lucy knows she cannot do that and duty calls. So, she pecks Kara lightly on the lips and stands up from the table while Kara picks up the empty dishes.

"I gotta go," she announces, making her way to Kara's bedroom to take a quick shower and change clothes. She shimmies out of her borrowed shirt, staying in her underwear, finds the shirt she was wearing and deems it unwearable.

"Hey," Lucy calls. "Where did you say you put my clean shirt?"

"Bottom drawer," Kara answers. Lucy rummages around the drawer until she finds her shirt and smiles. "Where - where are you going?" She hears Kara's shy question.

Lucy pokes her head out of the bedroom to reply. "To work. Remember? At the DEO."

"Oh," Kara says and looks down, apparently lost in thought. Lucy wants to wait for her reply, but she's already running late and not looking forward to hear J'onn bark at her for tardiness. She goes back into the bedroom and opens the door of the bathroom. She looks around and easily locates Kara's shampoo and soap.

Kara walks into the bedroom and yelps when she sees the state of undress Lucy is in. "Oh my god," she says while she covers her eyes with her hand.

Lucy laughs and almost teases her about it. She grabs a towel hanging by and covers herself. "I'm decent," she announces, and giggles when Kara only opens one eye to look at her.

"You're a seductress, Lucy Lane," Kara accuses her.

Lucy smirks and cocks an eyebrow. Two can play that game. "Well, Ms. Danvers," she slowly walks up to Kara, watching as her throat bobs up and down while she swallows. "Something tells me you're not as innocent as you like others to believe," she pats Kara's cheek.

She waits, and delights when Kara blushes. Lucy is waiting to see if Kara will rise to the challenge and show some of that Supergirl confidence she has well hidden. Lucy almost wants Kara to retort something flirty bordering on inappropriate, but is certainly not disappointed by how flustered Kara is because of her forwardness.

"Yeah, well," Kara looks down and shuffles her feet a little. Lucy stares at her, enamored, because she's not one for falling for dorks, but Kara is a whole different thing. Kara makes awkward seem adorable–and while Lucy is almost certain some of that awkwardness is real and sometimes Kara is uncomfortable on Earth–Lucy cannot help but to think it's charming. Kara charmed her without even trying. Lucy should've known there was no way to resist her.

"I was thinking maybe I could fly us to the DEO. That way we can save some time," Kara says, and Lucy almost misses it, lost in thought.

"Thinking as a couple so early on?" Lucy prefers to tease and joke around the issue of flying because she secretly dreads it. There's a reason why she's army and not airforce, and it's not because of General Lane: she doesn't like flying. She'll do it, if absolutely necessary; she's not one to drive for three days straight when she can take a plane, but she doesn't enjoy it. She certainly never understood those adrenaline junkies at the airforce flying at top speed and doing risky maneuvers. Flying is just not her cup of tea, and while she does trust Kara and knows Kara would rather lose a hand than let her fall during a flight, Lucy has to think twice about flying with her.

"Yeah, I mean, it can be fun, you know?" Kara says with a smile and a pretty blush settled in her cheeks. "Plus, I get to show off and woo you."

Lucy laughs at that. Well, when Kara puts it that way, it doesn't sound so bad. "As if you had troubles wooing me."

Kara smiles so bright and big, Lucy feels her heart beat a second longer than usual. "Awesome! I'll just let you," Kara gestures at the shower behind Lucy.

"I'll be right out," Lucy promises as she watches Kara back out of the bathroom with a dazed expression on her face and a big smile. Kara closes the door behind her, and Lucy sighs. She feels the exact way Kara's face looks and she's totally okay with that.

//

After two quick showers, and the perfect opportunity for Kara to show off her superspeed abilities, Lucy finds herself toe to toe with Kara. Kara is looking at her with a softness that Lucy has never encountered before her, and it makes Lucy's hands itch to hold Kara close.

"Okay, so, there are different ways to do this," Kara starts. Lucy raises an eyebrow and waits for her to elaborate.

"Alex usually prefers to fly side by side. Winn is a fan of being carried bridal style, although that has only happened once."

Lucy laughs. Of course Kara has taken all of her friends flying at least _once_. And of course Winn would love to be held by a strong superhero; it's something Lucy can relate to, but would never admit out loud.

"And James?" Lucy cannot refrain from asking because she knows for a fact that Clark took James flying on several occasions, and most of them were because James asked him to. What she doesn't know is if Kara ever took him flying. Somehow, the image of Kara holding James is foreign to her. "Have you ever flown with him?"

"Yes, I took him to the Fortress of Solitude once. He didn't enjoy my speed limits," Kara says and she sounds a little cocky about it.

"Actually, I was expecting pointers on how you carried him," Lucy clarifies, and makes a mental note to tease James about flying with Kara.

"Oh," Kara smiles. "Same as Alex."

"Okay," Lucy breathes in, bracing herself. "Show me what I have to do."

Kara crowds her space and places a hand on her waist, tucking Lucy into her side. Lucy's arms settle around Kara's neck, her hands resting on Kara's right shoulder, her fingers touching the fabric of Kara's suit. She yelps when Kara starts levitating, their feet just shy of touching the ground.

"Did you just -"

"Not a word, Danvers," Lucy hisses.

Kara chuckles and kisses her cheek. "Ready?"

When Lucy looks at her, she sees confidence and a little cockiness. Lucy's got to say it looks really attractive on Kara. Right there, Kara looks like the perfect hero: all confident smiles, a glint in her eyes, shoulders drawn back, and tight muscles underneath Lucy's hands. Kara could get away with anything, Lucy knows. Kara convinced her to fly with her just by asking.

Lucy nods, smiling what she hopes is a reassuring smile. Kara beams at her and flies out of the window. At first, Lucy prefers to hide her face on the crook of Kara's neck, feeling the wind around them. She's certain the flight will end soon because Kara is a fast flier. She's seen her break the sound barrier more than once.

But Kara seems to be interested in other things rather than speed. Lucy feels as Kara holds her impossibly closer and kisses the top of her head. Lucy holds onto Kara tightly, and if Kara notices, she doesn't say anything about it, and instead Kara's fingers soothe a spot on Lucy's hips.

Lucy finally looks ahead of them and notices that Kara made good on her promise and took the scenery route in order to impress her. Something inside Lucy's chest jumps up and down and makes her feel giddy. Giddy because a literal superhero is going out of her way to impress _her_ , Lucy Lane, as if she needed anything more than Kara's smile and gentleness to be impressed. Lucy briefly wonders if this is how Lois felt at the beginning with Clark. Wonders if this feeling will ever get old and secretly hopes it never does.

Kara loves flying, Lucy can tell. It's almost a second nature to her. Kara zooms around buildings with ease. She drops a few feet with a laugh, a fluttery feeling settling in Lucy's stomach, not just because of Kara herself, but because Lucy is not really fond of drastic changes in the trajectory.

In the back of her mind, Lucy reasons that Kara is showing her this part of her because it's part of what makes her truly happy. Because being Supergirl is a huge part of Kara, and Lucy feels flattered. Lucy would beat her dread of flying every day if that meant she got to see Kara being this carefree. Lucy fixes her eyes on Kara to avoid feeling vertigo and a sigh gets stuck on her throat. Kara has a wide, easy, and warm smile on her face. Kara is glowing, and Lucy feels way more charmed by that than by the scenery.

Lucy feels the wind on her face and on her hair, and risks a look below her feet. The city looks breathtaking from this height and she can totally understand why Kara enjoys flying so much. But eventually they leave the buildings behind and the big sand dunes make their appearance, signaling the end of their little trip. Lucy lets a sigh of relief the moment the looming architecture of the DEO pops up in her field of vision, eager to set her feet on the ground. Flying with Kara is nice and warm, but Lucy prefers to hold Kara firmly set on the ground.

They land outside the DEO base a little harsher than Lucy would like, but she knows it's part of Kara showing off. Kara sets Lucy down carefully and steps out of the little crater she made looking very much smug. Lucy laughs a short laugh and shakes her head. Kara runs a hand through her wind swept hair and looks down at Lucy with a charming smile in place.

"So, did you like it?"

Lucy swallows. "I loved the view," and by view she means Kara's beautiful, gleeful face.

Kara smiles widely and begins to close the distance between them, when Vazquez interrupts them.

Vazquez politely cleats her throat, and when Lucy looks at her she can tell Vazquez is trying really hard to keep the smile off her face. Lucy stands tall and cocks an eyebrow at her, waiting.

Vazquez gets a better hold of herself and looks straight ahead, past them. "Supergirl, Director," she nods harshly. "Director Henshaw would like to speak with both of you."

"Aw, I just got here. How am I in trouble?" Kara asks, pouting, and Lucy uses all of her self control to not giggle right there in front of Vazquez and kiss the pout off of Kara's mouth.

Vazquez does chuckle softly. "No idea, ma'am. Although you do have a penchant for trouble."

Lucy snorts and bumps her shoulder with Vazquez's as she passes her by. "Thank you, agent."

Kara catches up to her. "I'm not in trouble, right?"

"Why are you asking me?" Lucy teases her.

"Well," Kara doubts, looks down at her feet, and then remembers she's Supergirl and throws her shoulders back. "You're the other boss. That's something you should know."

"I think deciding you're in trouble is not up to me," Lucy says, walking through the hallways, her boots echoing off the walls. "Alex and J'onn decide if and _when_ you are in trouble."

"Hey, that's not fair. You have to be on my team."

"Yeah?" Lucy smirks. "And why's that?"

"Because you're my girlfriend!" Kara blurts out. Lucy's smirk widens and looks around to see if any of the agents heard their exchange. Some throw them odd looks, but quickly divert their eyes when Lucy looks their way.

"Did I say that too loud?" Kara asks, inching down to whisper in her ear.

Lucy laughs under her breath. "Yeah, you pretty much yelled it."

Kara groans softly and rests her head on Lucy's shoulder, but immediately straightens when J'onn and Alex approach them. Lucy can feel Kara vibrate next to her with contained emotion and she figures it's because she has so much to tell Alex. Lucy swallows nervously, but she wills her face to remain impassive. She will not be afraid of her sister's girlfriend, even when Alex could probably make her disappear from the face of the Earth if she ever—God forbid—hurt Kara.

"Director," J'onn greets her. "Supergirl," he throws a curious look at Kara and turns to Lucy, widening his eyes just barely. Lucy resists the urge of lowering her eyes to her feet because J'onn is looking at her like he knows something he shouldn't, and Kara and Alex are locked in what seems one of their silent conversations, and Lucy feels a little bit like running away. At least Vazquez was just amused. And very discreet about it, Lucy grumpily muses.

"Director," Lucy nods curtly. And the following silence is incredibly uncomfortable: J'onn stands there regarding them with narrowed eyes; Alex is giving Kara a smug smirk; Kara is bouncing on her heels and blushing, while Lucy wonders how much do J'onn and Alex actually know, considering Kara's and open book to her sister and J'onn can read minds.

They stay like that for a while, until Lucy can't take it anymore. "Director?" She asks, hoping J'onn picks up on how uncomfortable she is.

J'onn places his hands on his hips, nods once, and turns around, walking to the central console. Lucy's instincts kick in and follows after him, leaving Kara and Alex behind.

"We're branching out, Director Lane," J'onn announces.

"Branching out?" Lucy asks, not quite following.

"Yes. We have been facilitated a building in the city," J'onn lays out some plans before her, probably the ones of the new building. "A new base, so that Supergirl can operate easily." The building seems to be very tall, just outside downtown and facing the coast, judging by its position. Lucy wonders how on Earth J'onn managed to get such a building on their disposition and if Senator Crane had anything to do about it.

Lucy looks back at Kara and Alex and finds Kara jumping up and down, using her hands to better explain herself as she tells Alex something that has the agent looking a mixture between proud and smug.

"Is she-" Lucy stops herself and points at Kara.

"Agent Danvers will show her the new building," J'onn assures her. "As soon as they stop gushing over... whatever it is they're gushing," J'onn finishes, avoiding her eyes.

"So, you didn't tell me the DEO was looking for a base in the city," Lucy starts, crossing her arms.

J'onn looks at Kara and Alex with what Lucy has come to associate as fatherly affection. "Technically, it wasn't in our plans," he starts. "But, yet again, Supergirl wasn't either."

Lucy nods along and smiles softly, humming her answer.

"Of course, there are other advantages," J'onn continues. "Faster access to alien emergencies and criminal commotions."

"Of course," Lucy echoes, smiling and giving J'onn a knowing look.

J'onn huffs and looks away. "Agent Danvers!" He calls, and Lucy finds it amusing when both Alex and Kara turn and raise their heads to J'onn's call.

"Yes, sir," Alex says when she reaches them. She stands tall and confident, Supergirl a mirror image of her.

"I was telling Director Lane of our expansion plans," J'onn starts.

"Expansion?" Kara asks at the same time Alex lets out a soft and amused little "oh."

"Agent Danvers, I trust you can take Supergirl to the site," J'onn says, and Lucy can almost swear there's a smirk to his expression.

"Absolutely," Alex turns and takes Kara by the arm, clearly shifting between agent and sister. "You're gonna love it. There's this window that would make even the Bat of Gotham jealous."

Lucy chuckles and shakes her head, watching them leave. Kara goes alongside Alex bouncing, making the cape willow behind her. Right before they exit the control room, Kara turns and waves at Lucy and J'onn, and Lucy answers automatically, her smile widening. After Kara and Alex leave, a silence falls between J'onn and Lucy that she doesn't find all that uncomfortable.

"Director," J'onn places a hand on Lucy's shoulder. "If you'd follow me," he says. They walk towards J'onn's office, and Lucy is surprised to find Vazquez waiting for them already.

"There's more to this expansion, Director," J'onn starts, walking to his desk and shuffling some papers. Vazquez hands him what he needs, and Lucy has to stop the scoff from escaping. J'onn might want to portray a detached image towards his agents, but Lucy knows he's fond of several of them, Alex and Vazquez the most obvious ones. Lucy finds it endearing; it's like J'onn is the mother duck and the agents are his ducklings. Lucy wonders if she'll ever feel like a duckling.

J'onn presents her a file. Lucy takes it with an eyebrow raised, and opens it. Inside is her official transfer, signed by General Samuel Lane himself. A gasp gets trapped inside Lucy's throat, mainly because she can't believe her own father agreed and signed the transfer and didn't ask anything from her in return. At the back of her mind a pang of wariness surges, but it's mostly subdued by the warmth and hopefulness she feels at belonging to the DEO completely.

"J'onn," she begins, but finds words lacking. She looks at him and he looks back at her with a faint smile on his lips and a look of utter _pride_ that Lucy feels filling up every void her father's disappointment left. Right now, she feels like one of J'onn's ducklings.

"Director Lane," J'onn starts. "It's both a pleasure and an honor," he extends his hand, but Lucy disregards the gesture and goes in for a full hug. She crashes solidly into J'onn and feels his arms wrap around her instantly. J'onn places one hand on her back and the other goes to cradle her head and now she can see why Alex and Kara look so relaxed and at home when they hug J'onn: his hugs really are a safe space.

When she draws back, she subtly runs a finger under her eye, keeping the tear that threatened to slip at bay. She composes herself and shakes J'onn's hand with a watery smile.

"Director J'onzz, the pleasure and honor is all mine," she says, and she means it.

They then turn to Vazquez who's looking at them with a fond smile. "Sir, ma'am," she salutes, smile still in place.

"Susan," both J'onn and Lucy say in unison. Lucy and Vazquez chuckle while J'onn just shakes his head.

"Well, now that that is out of the way," J'onn nods his head towards Lucy's transfer, "it's time to consider logistics of the expansion."

They walk to J'onn's desk and Vazquez starts passing them files from what seems a rather impressive pile of paperwork.

"These are the lease papers of the buildings," Vazquez says. "And this is your new contract, ma'am," Vazquez passes her a bulky file and Lucy blanches. That's gonna be her bedtime reading tonight.

"It's mostly just NDAs regarding Supergirl's identity, Director," Vazquez tells her, and Lucy can hear the smirk in her tone.

"There is also a clause that states this base is now under your full command," J'onn adds.

"I'm sorry, what?" Lucy stops flicking through her contract. "What did you say?"

"The expansion requires for the director to be at two places at once, and I'm a martian, but not even I can achieve such feat," J'onn begins. "And there's two directors now, one that can administrate the building and another for the base."

"So, you're going to the building," Lucy states.

"Yes. And I'm taking Agent Danvers with me, as Deputy Director."

Lucy wouldn't have expected any less.

"Which leaves you in charge of the base, and Agent Vazquez as your Deputy Director," J'onn finishes.

"That is if you wish to, ma'am," Vazquez interjects.

Lucy looks at her and immediately nods. "Absolutely."

Vazquez smiles at her and goes back to the pile of papers.

"And how is it going to work? The DEO, I mean, being divided in two," Lucy asks.

J'onn puts his hand on his hips and considers his answer. "Well, I'm afraid the base has better holding facilities, which means any and every rogue alien Supergirl and the team apprehend will be held here. There are also better facilities for interrogations. There is a brand new lab in the building, with better equipment, so all science divisions will be moved there," he lists off.

"And the training rooms? The arsenal?"

Out of the corner of her eyes, Lucy sees Vazquez lift her head at that and listen carefully. She has half the mind not to roll her eyes and smirk.

"The arsenal will be evenly divided. And I've been told there are several training rooms in the building."

Lucy is satisfied with that answer. "And Supergirl will be reporting to the building."

"Yes, she will."

"Fair enough, Director."

They spend the rest of the morning sorting through papers and dividing everything between J'onn and Lucy's responsibilities.

//

By the time Alex and Kara come back, the three of them are still hunched over files and files. J'onn grunts and stands up, cracking his neck. Vazquez sighs and stretches her arms over her head. Lucy rubs her eyes and wonders for the hundredth time why they don't do paperwork on time.

Alex and Kara come bursting in, wearing matching huge grins. They are carrying take out bags, and the moment Vazquez looks at them, she jumps out of her chair and embraces both of them, planting huge kisses on either of their cheeks. Alex looks disgusted and pushes Vazquez away, but Kara just smiles wider.

"Figured you guys would need a break," she says, shrugging and smiling at Lucy directly.

They lay out the food on J'onn's desk despite his orders of "not leaving grease stains on the paperwork _again_ , Danvers."

"While you three were in here being nerds," Alex says and Lucy sticks out her tongue at her, "we had time to not only have a tour around the new building, but also to go to Chicago for some burgers."

Kara starts passing around the burgers and fries. And Lucy cannot help it. After she sees her burger and her stomach growls at the mere sight of it, she pulls Kara into a brief thank you kiss. Kara wraps a hand around her waist and pulls her close, but doesn't deepen the kiss, for which Lucy is thankful because she's not exactly looking forward to put on a show for J'onn, Vazquez, and Alex.

"You're my hero, Supergirl," she says and enjoys the way Kara beams, looking at her lips.

"Ugh," Alex butts in, dragging a chair closer to J'onn's desk and sitting down. "You two are disgusting."

"Shut up, Danvers, you love us," Lucy counters, throwing a fry at Alex which she catches and pops into her mouth.

"You're just jealous, Danvers," Vazquez adds. "Because Little Danvers here and Lane are running for couple of the year."

Alex makes a face and touches her chest as if offended.

"Kids, behave or I'll ground your guns," J'onn says in the most fatherly voice Lucy's ever heard and all of them laugh.

And Lucy just feels warm inside. Alex and Vazquez continue to halfheartedly bicker while Kara floats cross-legged at her side. J'onn appreciates Alex is distracted and steals from her fries, feigning innocence when Alex narrows her eyes at him. Lucy looks at Kara, who's regarding the whole scene fondly with her cheeks stuffed, and thinks she's gotten lucky. Because after all those years of moving around in the army looking to fill the void Lois' departure from her life left, she's finally– _finally_ –found a place to belong with people that not only appreciate her, but would take a bullet for her. She knows because she would take a bullet for all of them. Specially Kara, no matter she's literally bulletproof.

//

After eating, Kara insists on going back to Alex's place to have an improvised game night. Kara knows for sure Alex has the Star Wars' _Battlefront_ game and she's been looking for an excuse to play it. J'onn refuses, even when both Kara and Alex pout at him simultaneously, but Vazquez agrees easily. Kara beams and starts texting both James and Winn.

Lucy catches her in the middle of it. "What are you doing?"

"Texting James and Winn to see if they wanna come."

Lucy hums.

"Also, I was thinking maybe we could tell James?" Kara asks even though she wasn't meaning to.

"Tell him?"

"Yes, that we're dating," Kara clarifies in a single breath.

"Oh," Lucy says and draws back a little. "Sure."

"I mean, if that's okay with you," Kara gestures with her hands.

"Yeah, sure," Lucy starts. "But I think it's best if you talk to him. Like, alone."

"Okay?" Kara says. "Is there something I should know that you're not telling me?"

"Nothing you should worry about, Supergirl," Lucy says and kisses her cheek. "I promise."

"Okay," Kara isn't convinced yet.

"I'll go home and change and meet you at Alex's, okay?"

"Yeah, okay," Kara answers and feels suspicious even when Lucy kisses her lightly and shoulder checks Alex and Vazquez on the way out.

"Why do you have your crinkle on?" Alex approaches her.

"Lucy suggested I talk to James by myself," Kara says a little dumbly.

"And you don't wanna?"

"No. I mean, yes. I mean, it's not that. It's just, I thought we might do it together, considering we make a nice love triangle all together."

"Oh," Alex gets a crinkle of her own. "Well, I guess we'll find out in a few."

"Yeah, I guess we will."

//

Alex and Kara barely have time to call for pizza, set the game on the screen, put the ice cream out and the beers Vazquez brought on the table before James, Winn, and Lucy arrive.

Alex starts passing beers around and Winn and Vazquez quickly crowd the controllers to go on the first round. Alex starts to complain, but is distracted by the boxes of pizza. James and Kara sit on one couch and watch Winn and Vazquez outdo each other, while Lucy busies herself in the kitchen with Alex for whatever reason.

Kara follows them with her eyes and feels uneasy. The sensation that Lucy knows something she doesn't comes back and she doesn't like that feeling.

"Kara?" James calls her attention. "Are you okay?"

Kara hums her answer. "Why'd you ask?"

"You're fidgeting."

"I'm not fidgeting," she says, but sits on her hands for good measure.

James chuckles. "What's up with you?"

"Nothing," she starts, but changes her mind. "Actually, could we talk?"

James sobers up and nods. "Sure."

"Um, outside?" Kara points to Alex's balcony and stands up, listening as James does the same and follows her outside.

Kara leans on the railing and looks out to the city. James stands next to her and mirrors her position. The view from Alex's balcony is not as impressive as the one from Cat's office, but Kara will take it.

"James," Kara wringles her hands in front of her to avoid bending the railing of Alex's balcony and stands straight. "There's something I want to tell you."

James smiles softly and friendly, and Kara remembers yet again why she loves him so much. "So I figured. Kara, you've got me on edge here."

"Sorry, sorry. It's just – Lucy and I – we –," Kara struggles with her words and she doesn't know why. She's sure about her feelings for Lucy. Damn, Lucy's the only one who has managed to make Kara feel normal. She shouldn't be struggling with getting this out. But this is James, and James' opinion is very important to her.

"She – well, we've been getting really close for a while now, and it just kinda clicked, you know?" Kara knows she's just going around the issue without really saying it and James' smile is getting less friendly and more confused.

"It happened and I decided to stop fighting it and –"

"Oh," James says and realization dawns in his face. His smile, if anything, just grows bigger. "So, Lucy finally asked you out."

"Yes?"

James chuckles. "You don't sound convinced."

"It was more of me kissing her and then her asking me to be her girlfriend, actually," Kara says and it feels so good to say it and having James smile back at her.

"Yeah, it's hard to resist her, isn't it?" James asks and raises his eyebrows.

"I don't think I ever stood a chance," Kara admits.

"No, you didn't. I gotta say, I suspected it," he chuckles. "That time at game night, you were all she could see and I know the Lucy Lane Game when I see it. I've been on the receiving end of it, actually. And you two just seemed to fit together, you know?" James smiles softly. "She's your perfect partner at game night, Kara. Don't let her go."

"I'm not planning to, not for a really long while."

"Good."

And just like that, all the tension seeps from Kara's body. They stand there for a while, just smiling and looking at each other fondly. Kara, thankful for having James as a friend, and James with a proud look on his face. Kara is itching for a hug, but she's not quite sure how to ask for it, and, bless James who is able to read her perfectly, opens his arms and nudges a little closer to Kara. Kara sinks into it and sighs. James kisses the top of her head and Kara squeezes him a little tighter than she usually would.

"I'm happy for you two, Kara."

"Thank you," she reluctantly breaks the hug and steps back a little. She looks into Alex's living room and finds Lucy looking at them with a fond look in her eyes. She nods slightly and goes back to whatever it is Winn is telling her.

"Oh," Kara then remembers Lucy's suspicious comment and attitude. "Lucy suggested that I talked to you without her present. Any idea why?"

James chuckles. "Sneaky little –" he stops and shakes his head. "That's because she already talked about it with me. She sort of asked for my blessing."

"She did what?" Kara asks, completely thrown.

"Yeah, she went into my office, talked about how amazing and beautiful you were for 20 minutes or so, declared her feelings for you to me, proceeded to ask me if I thought you liked her back, and then asked for my blessing to tell you about her feelings," James listed off with his fingers. "So that's why I'm surprised you kissed her first. She had a whole speech prepared. She was also nervous to deliver it."

"Lucy was nervous?" Kara cannot believe him.

James nods and hums. "Nervous about the possibility of you not returning her feelings and making it awkward between you two. Guess she just wanted to avoid a Winn situation."

"Okay, that was a long time ago and we moved past it," Kara says a little defensive, but still chuckles. For all Kara was dense and stubborn, Lucy was kind of thinking the same things. Which Kara now finds unbelievable and, frankly, a little bit stupid.

"You can work it out, Kara," James says, taking her hand. "If there's someone with a crazier work schedule than you, it's Lucy. And she'll be damned if she doesn't try her hardest to make it work out."

Kara smiles and looks down. "Yeah, I've got the same feeling about her."

//

Kara finds that she doesn't mind a single bit when Lucy effortlessly inserts herself in her routine.

Sometimes Lucy stays over and if they are up and functional early, they have breakfast together, Lucy thumbing through her newsfeed and Kara looking over her mails, kissing Lucy every once in a while or always keeping physical contact.

Lucy kisses her a little bit more fiercely when she goes out to deal with an alien emergency. When Kara comes back, prisoner in tow, tired and dirty but in one piece, Lucy pecks her lips and traces her face, looking for any injuries.

Kara holds Lucy a little tighter when General Lane drops by and treats Lucy professionally and speaks of nothing more but business. Kara notices Lucy likes to keep her tears at bay, but also to hide her face in Kara's neck.

Lucy shows up at CatCo with food without prompting from Kara. They endure Winn, James, and Cat's teasing because Kara smiles unabashedly the moment she hears Lucy's heartbeat in the near vicinity.

Kara stumps through the desert base well into the night to drag Lucy out of it so she can get some sleep. Lucy sometimes fights her, but Kara always manages to lift her off her feet and fly them both to whichever apartment is closer. Most of the times they end up in Kara's apartment, a mess of sheets and limbs.

They still keep up their sci-fi movie nights with Alex and Alex teases them mercilessly. She makes gagging noises every time Kara and Lucy kiss. Makes a fuss about sitting in between them so they actually watch the movie. Calls them "nerds in love" but still smiles softly at Kara right before she leaves and says "I'm so happy you're happy, Kara."

All in all, Kara is starting to believe what Cat and James said. It might work out between Lucy and her. It looks promising enough, and Kara feels happier than ever before.

//

Lucy stirs and tries to move, but she's met with resistance. She opens her eyes, battling against sleep, and realizes she's in Kara's bedroom, and what doesn't allow her to move is Kara's furnace self attached to her back with her arms tightly wrapped around her.

Lucy taps her hand. "Kara, let go."

Kara stirs too, and buries her nose in Lucy's hair. "No," she says, voice rough. One of her hands dips under Lucy's shirt.

Lucy swallows. Right now is not the time. "Kara, we're gonna be late."

"Five more minutes," Kara mumbles. And Lucy figures five more minutes couldn't hurt, even when she knows exactly what will happen: Kara will wake up, look at the clock, fall off the bed, rush through her shower, stuff her cheeks with whatever food is left from last night while Lucy showers and gets ready, pack some lunch, prepare Lucy's coffee, and both of them will be late to work. Lucy sighs and furrows more into the covers and Kara's arms. She'll deal with it after five minutes.

//

Lucy didn't really think she'd get the shovel talk. At least not from Alex considering they're pretty cool with each other. But, oh, does Lucy get the shovel talk from Alexandra Danvers.

"Hey, Lane," Alex walks through the desert base of the DEO in one of those rare days that she helps with cleaning and packing up her nerd lab for transportation. "A word?"

"Sure, Danvers," she agrees easily, having no idea what is waiting for her.

Alex leads her to one of the training rooms that are backed up with kryptonite and closes the door shut behind her. Lucy gives her a weird look and stand with her arms crossed, waiting for Alex to speak.

"Listen, Lane. I know you and my sister have been dating for a while now, and I really like you. I approve of you and all, but I really need to say this," Alex squares her shoulders, stands taller, and Lucy finally knows what's coming next. And to be quite honest? She _is_ scared.

"If you so much as make my sister cry, I will hunt you down, kick your ass, and make sure no one can find your body. Do you understand?" Alex delivers in a cold manner that Lucy totally buys into, but doesn't show.

"Roger that, Agent Danvers," she says and is surprised when it comes out steady and sure.

"Good," Alex relaxes and then smirks. "Because I would really hate to do that because I like you and you make my sister very happy. Seriously, she never shuts up about you. It's even worse than when she was crushing on you."

Alex laughs and Lucy follows, the tension now dissolved.

"And, hey, Lane?"

Lucy hums.

"Thanks for making Kara happy."

"She makes me even happier," Lucy returns and Alex groans at the cheesiness of it all.

//

Lucy receives an unexpected but not unpleasant call one day in the middle of the DEO. Her personal phone rings obnoxiously loud and Vazquez gives her an amused look. Lucy looks at the caller ID and her heart thumps violently. She picks up the phone and waits, though not for long.

 _"How are you doing, short sport?"_ Lois says, the smirk clear in her voice.

"Younger than you," Lucy returns and it feels so easy. So easy to pick on and banter with Lois. They don't talk too often, but ever since Lois heard Lucy joined the DEO, they've been more constant with each other.

_"Youth runs out, you'll still be short."_

"Did you just call to be annoying? Is Perry out of town or something?"

Lois laughs and Lucy smiles in return without thinking about it.

 _"Would he be so lucky,"_ Lois starts. _"Actually, I called because a little bird told me you scored the Girl of Steel."_

Oh. That. Lucy swallows, she forgot to tell Lois about that, because in all honesty she didn't want to hear a rant comparing Clark and Kara. Or, worse, one comparing Lois and her.

_"Cat got your tongue?"_

"No."

 _"Then?"_ Lois asks suggestively.

"Who told you?" Lucy cannot help but to ask.

 _"A female of the Danvers variety,"_ Lois remains vague on purpose.

"Kara would've told me."

_"It was actually Alex. And she didn't tell me, it just slipped out."_

"Of course it did," Lucy mutters under her breath. "Well, now you know."

Lois hums for a moment. _"Is she as Super as that suit claims her to be?"_

"Oh my god, Lois, I'm hanging up," Lucy groans.

 _"You wouldn't,"_ Lois teases her.

"Are you testing me?"

Lois laughs for a moment. _"Clark doesn't know."_

"Are you going to tell him?"

_"I think that privilege belongs to Kara. Wouldn't you agree?"_

Lucy hums. "Yeah. At least he probably won't be as annoying as you."

Lois doesn't dignify that with an answer. _"Hey, Luce,"_ and the familiarity of the nickname still brings a pang of something Lucy doesn't want to label.

"Yeah?"

_"Are you in love with her?"_

Lucy remains silent. She doesn't want to lie and say no, but she also doesn't want to rush it and say yes, even though Kara has felt more like home than anyone else before in her life. And, somehow, saying it to Lois makes it real.

 _"Be good to her, Lucy. For all the Sunny Danvers attitude she's a really sad person and wants to belong,"_ Lois pauses. _"Hey! Much like yourself. Huh, who would've thought? A Kryptonian and a Lane, birds of a feather. She'll be good for you, I know."_

Lucy doesn't know how to answer. "Thank you," she settles.

 _"Finally you're dating someone I can support,"_ Lois jokes, ending the tender moment.

"I still don't know why you didn't like me dating James," Lucy sighs.

_"Because I knew him first!"_

"The same can be said of Kara."

 _"Yeah, but you know her better,"_ Lois simply says. _"Anyways, gotta go. Behave, Lucy Lane. And treat her well. She's one of a kind."_

"Believe me, I know," and Lucy hangs up. She stays rooted on the spot looking blankly at her phone.

A few years ago, Lucy could understand why Lois was head over heels in love with Superman and was jealous of her. Because bright, always first, always right Lois got the superhero. And so, Lucy threw herself into her job, escalating positions and titles, and coming up against a wall because she was General Lane's daughter. And then, Lucy met Kara and understood why James was so in love with her because she was also in awe of Kara. Kara, who has to deal with the unfair comparisons to Superman, and yet still rises up above it. Kara, who carries a legacy Superman doesn't quite fully understand. Kara, who still lives in the shadow of a family member, no matter how worthy and valuable she proves herself to be. Kara, who understands Lucy when she doesn't want to talk about her family, or Lois and Clark, and who-at times-also shares her inclination for staying quiet about those subjects. Kara, who is caring and understanding and charming and chivalrous, and totally not at all like her cousin. Kara, who likes her for who she is and not because she's a carbon copy of Lois. And that's how Lucy learned not to be jealous of Lois anymore, because by being herself she got a job she adores, a place to belong, a new family, and Kara.

"Everything okay, ma'am?" Vazquez walks up to her and asks just above a whisper.

Lucy turns to look at her and smiles. A tear trickles down her cheek, and Lucy is fast to clean it up. "Actually, Vazquez, yes. Everything is perfect."

//

Later, Lucy is almost shy to bring up her phonecall with Lois, but Kara helps her.

"You okay? You're too quiet," she says while chewing a sushi roll and pausing _The Chronicles of Riddick_ on the tv.

"Lois called today?"

"Really?" Kara sounds excited about it. "That's great news, right?" She asks after she doesn't get a reaction out of Lucy.

Lucy shrugs a little, but a small smile makes its way across her face. "It was better when it ended, she was being too annoying."

"How did it go?" Kara bumps her shoulder.

"You know Lois, always teasing and always being a jerk," Lucy starts, "but she was actually very supportive of our relationship."

That gives Kara pause. "Oh," she says and Lucy watches as the penny drops and Kara realizes she hasn't told Clark about them. "She was?"

"She also told me Clark doesn't know," Lucy smirks. Kara breathes out in relief.

"Yeah, maybe I should get right on that. It's just - I sort of forgot? Wait - how does Lois know?" Kara does a double take.

"Alex told her," Lucy rolls her eyes and chuckles at Kara's groan.

"For Rao, Alex cannot keep her mouth shut."

Lucy laughs loudly at that. She's totally going to kick Alex's ass on the training room the minute the older Danvers stops being busy with the move to the building in the city. Then, a thought occurs to her that has her giggling out of the blue.

"What?" Kara asks with a small smile of her own.

"I was thinking," Lucy moves closer to her and circles Kara's neck with her arms. "Can you imagine, though? Can you imagine the double dates we can have with Lois and Clark?"

Kara groans, and Lucy throws her head back laughing. "Please not. Clark will probably say something cheesy like 'the houses of El and Lane are properly united now' and it will be _bad_ ," Kara makes a face as if to sell her point to Lucy.

"At least we know we're the superior El and Lane," Lucy wiggles her eyebrows and sits properly on Kara's lap, kissing her cheeks, her eyebrows, her forehead, everywhere but her lips.

"Yeah, that we are," Kara agrees and captures her lips in a tender kiss, and Lucy sighs into it.

Lucy feels so, so lucky. Maybe Lois is right. Maybe Kara is looking for somewhere to belong to the same way Lucy is. Maybe they have found that place with each other. Maybe they are finally enough.

Lucy's train of thought gets cut short when Kara's hands find their way under her shirt. Lucy moans into the kiss that's grown exponentially deeper and hotter.

"Watch your hands, Supergirl," Lucy says, breathless.

"Or else?" Kara counters, her eyebrows raised and so hecking attractive it makes Lucy's stomach jump in anticipation.

"Or else you might need to take me to bed."

"That," Kara closes the distance between them again and nips at Lucy's jawline, "can be arranged."

Lucy moans and thinks she might come undone just by the tone of Kara's voice, the insistent way she keeps nipping at her jaw, and the downright dirty way Kara is looking at her.

"But before we do that," Lucy takes a breath and tries to focus on what she's doing, "I want to do something."

"Anything," Kara says reverently and Lucy swallows. She places her hands on either side of Kara's shirt, thumbing the buttons, and starts playing with them. In all honesty, she cannot be at a disadvantage because Kara is playing a game that Lucy is well versed at. So, Lucy plays dirty.

"You know, when Supergirl gets called, and you get this determined look on your face, and you tear your glasses off and rip your shirt open," Lucy fists the shirt in preparation, "I always find it really," she bites her lip and looks at Kara in the eye, "fucking hot."

Kara squirms in her place and opens her mouth, taking a deep breath.

"And I always wonder what it would be like to rip your shirt open by myself. No Supergirl emergency. Just rip your shirt open and have my way with you," Lucy's hands tense, the fabric of Kara's shirt following her command.

Kara yelps. "Please," she lets out barely above a whisper.

Lucy needs no further agreement. She rips Kara's shirt open and finds it as pleasing as she thought it would be. The buttons scatter about and Lucy comes face first with Kara's impeccable abs.

"Good, merciful Rao," Kara mutters with her eyes closed.

Lucy rakes her nails over Kara's abs and enjoys the shudder it produces. "Now, Supergirl, you may take me to bed."

"Oh, it took you too long."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one was mostly fluff bc the real thing comes next chapter, which will be up really, really soon. as always, thanks for reading.


	5. and break (pt. 2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FIGHT NIGHT. the showdown between the girl of steel and a ripoff kaiju is here.
> 
> for the sake of this fic, let's consider tyler hoechlin's superman as clark and sarah shahi as lois lane.

In retrospective, Kara's life was going way smoother than ever before and she must have been expecting a tragedy of sorts to come barging at her door.

Previous experiences have taught her that tragedies have enough manners to announce themselves. They come in a string of occurrences, one tied to the next one, that usually end with a bang. See: Myriad. Except this time, the tragedy happens in the most unexpected of ways.

She woke up in Lucy's bed, with Lucy half on top of her. They got up early enough to cook breakfast together. She had enough time to spar an hour with Alex in one of the training rooms in the new building. She picked some scones for Winn, and James, and herself on her way to CatCo. She sat at her desk after her rounds and making sure Cat didn't need anything that involved a super intervention.

But the thing here is that she let her guard down. She was managing without trouble both her jobs and her relationship. Her life was starting to resemble the most normal it had ever been. And then, another freaking kaiju-looking alien attacked Gotham.

Winn comes barrelling through her door, out of breath, and a little pale. "Kara, you really need to come see this."

Kara is about to tease him to take it easy, that whatever meme he wants to show her cannot be that urgent. But Winn has a desperate look in his eyes and he looks kind of sorry, although Kara doesn't know what for.

"Alright," she stands up and lets Winn drag her to the bullpen. Before she enters and follows the blur of people going in, James comes to meet them and places himself to her side, gripping her arm tightly, so tightly Kara almost feels it.

"Guys, what's going on? You're kind of freaking me out."

"Kara," James looks at her dead in the eyes. "You have to promise you won't do anything rash."

"What?" She walks in with both of them flanking her, and the answer she needed is broadcasted and displayed in all the screens across the bullpen. Kara tunes into what the screens are saying and the first thing she hears is that Superman is engaged in a fight with an alien double his size and he seems to be in trouble.

"The alien came out of the ocean without warning. Batman was the first to the scene and Superman joined him soon after. The alien has not surrendered and it seems Batman and Superman might need backup," the reporter says frantically.

"Is that -?" Winn says. And Kara doesn't need to confirm it, Winn knows it's the same kind of alien that attacked National City a couple months ago. He knows, he saw it. Kara knows, she fought it.

"It's not the same, is it?" James asks and if Kara didn't know better she'd say he sounds calm, detached. But Kara knows better and she realizes James is scared. Truly, fully scared.

"Where's Diana?" Kara asks because, right now, Diana is the only one that can help Clark and Batman. As far as Kara knows, the Bat is human--resourceful, but human still--and Clark could really use another hand by the looks of it.

On the screen, people are running around scared, yelling, looking for cover. The reporter keeps narrating the fight, but Kara suddenly feels numb. Her hearing goes out, all she can hear is white noise. She stays rooted in place and watches as the alien throws Batman around and walks menacingly towards Superman, who stands tall and rigid, protecting the city, being the only barrier between the alien and destruction. Unconsciously, Kara mirrors Clark's stance, bracing for the impact. 

"Where's Diana?" She asks again, through gritted teeth, more insistent, to herself.

When the collision comes, Kara can swear she feels it too. Her muscles tense, Superman shoots up into the sky and comes back with full force, colliding with the alien and sending it into the ground. Superman flies right into it, driving punch after punch, and Kara can feel her arms trembling with the same fury Clark is attacking the alien. But the alien does not give in. It remains standing, receiving Superman's punches as if they were nothing, as if they didn't come from one of the strongest beings in this planet.

The alien backhands Superman, but Superman comes back, dodges the next strike, shoots his laser vision. The alien roars and tackles Superman to the ground. Kara can feel the burning in her limbs, the way Clark's legs tense before he shoots up into the sky again to fire another round of laser vision to further piss the alien off. But the alien staggers, and Kara sees Clark's way in at the same time he does. He drives his fists into the alien's general chest area and both stumble back. Clark then focuses on the alien's jaw, trying to break it off its hinges. Kara can feel the strain in her own arms, the sweat in her own brow. Clark is so close, so close.

But then comes the pain. The alien gets tired of Superman and its tail stabs Clark in the back, right between his shoulder blades. Kara recoils in pain, doubles over, her eyes fill with tears, and she feels the burn of Clark's painful roar.

"Kal," she whispers, broken. She doesn't register James and Winn keeping her standing; she doesn't register Cat coming to her side as well and ushering them inside her office; she doesn't register the movement; she doesn't register her phone blaring because she's trapped in white noise and pain and coldness, just like she was in the Phantom Zone. She doesn't register much other than the hot, burning, and destructive anger growing inside her. Taking over every single one of her nerve endings. Waiting to be released. Waiting for revenge.

What she registers is the reporter screaming, "Superman has fallen!"

Kara growls and takes off her glasses, tosses them, and is about to rip her shirt open in order to fly out of the closest window no matter if it's open or closed when she feels hands over her own, stopping her. She turns to her left and sees Winn holding her, with the most frightened look on his face she's ever seen.

"Kara, don't do it," Winn says and sounds like he's about to cry.

"Winn, let go," she grunts out, easily freeing herself from his grip. Winn stumbles back, against James.

James steps up and puts himself between Kara and the balcony. "Kara, think about it."

"No, he needs me," Kara walks up to James and looks at him in the eye, the height difference forgotten when Kara is wild with rage. "Step aside, James. I don't want to hurt you."

"Kara, you wouldn't."

"I'm warning you," and Kara truly is, because she starts to feel the prickle of her eyes when she's about to shoot her laser vision. She wouldn't hurt James, that much is true, but if he doesn't step aside then Kara will find a way around him.

"What are you going to do, huh?" Cat appears on her periphery. "Fly up there, punch an alien to death, and rescue Superman?"

"Yeah," Kara snarls. "Pretty much."

"You saw what that alien did to him. What makes you think it won't happen to you as well?"

"I have to try. Diana is nowhere to be found, the Bat can't help, and Kal-El is hurt--probably even dead!" Kara yells. "I have to try!"

"You're going to get yourself killed, Kara," Cat says, calm and collected.

"I don't care! He needs me! I failed him when we came here and now he needs me and I'm not going to stand here listening to you tell me what to do!" Kara explodes, her fists tight at her sides. "I'm going and none of you can stop me. There's nothing you can do or say to stop me."

"Kara," Winn ventures.

"What?!" She growls at him.

He shows her his phone. "It's Alex."

Kara rips the phone away from him. "What do you want, Alex?"

 _"Kara, the kaiju broke free from its cell in the desert base,"_ Alex says, all business. _"It's wrecking havoc and coming towards the city."_

Kara's heart stops for a moment. "Lucy," she whispers. No, no, no, her brain keeps repeating. She cannot lose both Clark and Lucy in the same day. She was having breakfast and kissing Lucy awake this morning, dammit. She cannot lose her like this. Not like this.

_"You need to fight it. You need to stop it."_

"But Kal -" Kara starts.

 _"Kara, I know you're scared for him, but the aliens might come together and cause even more destruction. We have to neutralize this threat, minimize the danger. Kara, I know it's hard, but you have to fight this one. Please,"_ Alex's voice breaks and fear finally sinks in Kara. Alex is asking her to choose between Clark and National City. And so, Kara chooses.

"I'm on my way."

_"I'll meet you there. Kara, please be careful."_

"I love you, Alex," Kara says instead of promising Alex to be careful because she knows the anger that is simmering inside her won't let her think about being careful.

_"I sent a team for Winn. We might need him."_

Kara turns around and sure enough a tac team is strutting through CatCo. Kara nods and steels herself. "I see them."

 _"Good,"_ Alex pauses for a while. _"Kara, I love you."_

Kara nods one more time and hangs up. She passes the phone to Winn and gestures at the team. "They're here for you."

Winn yelps when he sees them, but says nothing.

"They're taking you to the DEO. Alex says we might need you."

"Alright," Winn tries to look put together and Kara has to give it to him. "What about you?"

"I have to go. Another one of those aliens is coming here. I have to stop it," Kara says firmly with no room for arguing.

"By yourself?" James asks.

"There's no one else around, is it?" And deep down, Kara regrets snapping at James like that, but she really needs to go. She walks around them, rips her shirt open, and flies from Cat's balcony in the DEO's direction.

She pushes herself farther than she usually would while flying because she doesn't know how much time she has. She breaks the sound barrier and, at some point, she hears Alex's heartbeat running rampant inside her chest. She knows J'onn is with her and that gives her a little peace of mind.

Surprisingly, her comms start up. "Kara?"

"Winn?" She asks, yelling above the sound of the rushing air around her.

"Yes. Kara, the DEO couldn't contain the kaiju and it's coming directly at you," he says as steadily as he can.

"Good," she answers with a snarl.

"Kara, please do not -" Winn tries to get to her, but she doesn't let him. She throws the earpiece out and raises her head, the kaiju visible through the distance that keeps shortening. Kara knows she's not thinking, but she doesn't care very much about that. Rage, fury, and a desperate need for retaliation blind her. She sees red and uses a burst of superspeed to come in contact with the kaiju, standing tall and menacing over a small group of DEO agents, the collision deafening and strong, enough to rattle Kara's teeth.

She has half the mind to think about the human agents trying to fight the kaiju and drags the alien out of the line of fire. Kara punches it square in the general jaw area once, twice, thrice, until the alien snarls and snaps its teeth at her. She smirks to herself because the alien doesn't know what's coming for it. She flies away from it and scans it with her x-ray vision, to find any weak spots. She growls in frustration when she finds none and the alien thrusts its tail at her. Kara is faster and avoids it, quickly covering it with freeze breath because apparently those tails are strong enough to pierce through a Kryptonian's skin and she rather not risk it.

She flies around the alien, confusing it and landing two solid blows on its tail, effectively breaking it into pieces. The alien growls and lashes at Kara, one of its claws reaching her and slashing through the front of her suit. Kara staggers back in the air and is too slow to block the next blow. The alien full on punches her into the sand and Kara bounces twice before she gets her footing back. She stands up, spits the sand in her mouth and tries not to feel afraid of the fact that it comes out tainted with blood. Kara stands her ground and waits until the alien comes closer.

The alien slithers towards her slowly, as if taunting her, measuring her movements. Kara knows that the smartest thing is to wait for it to make the first move, to not charge into it hoping for the best. But the rage is still simmering inside her and she can hear Kal-El's howl of pain at the back of her mind and she doesn't know if she might lose him, lose another part of her world like when she lost Astra, so she bypasses a year of training and ignores the insistent voice in her head that sounds a lot like Alex's telling her not to do anything stupid and jumps to meet the alien. What she couldn't have predicted is the alien jumping and meeting her in the air with the same brute force she has.

//

Lucy knows what Kara is capable of. She knows Kara is bulletproof; knows her only weakness is safely guarded within the DEO walls. Lucy is aware Kara is basically indestructible on Earth. Hell, Lucy watched as Kara lifted a big ass alien structure into space. Lucy has felt Kara's thrumming power underneath her own fingertips. But Lucy also knows that indestructible doesn't mean immortal, and she's not sure if Kara knows the difference.

Kara's impulsive. She throws herself head first into danger based solely on her heroism and drive to help people; based on her drive to make a difference. Lucy fell in love with Kara because of her noble heart, but she dreads when Kara's selflessness becomes a disregard for her own safety. Lucy is under the belief that Kara thinks she can charge into danger and come out unscathed, but Kara isn't aware of her own mortality and it bothers Lucy to no end.

Kara may not be aware of her own mortality, but Lucy is. Alex is the one who is most aware of it, so terrified of losing Kara, and Lucy is afraid too. When she hears Alex's pierced cry calling out for Kara, and when she notices that Kara is not getting up, that the alien is going to bury her in the middle of the desert with its fists, Lucy panics and feels a loss so incredibly huge that it leaves her breathless. And so, she does exactly what Kara would've done, even if it bothers Lucy.

She impulsively charges into danger.

Right at Alex and J'onn's heels, the rest of the standing DEO agents behind them.

Lucy and Alex try to distract the alien from burying Kara in the sand while J'onn tries a direct approach. He morphs into his martian form and flies towards the alien, but doesn't get very far because the alien backhands him with great speed and force in one of its arms while the other holds Kara against the sand. J'onn lands a few yards away, the force of the landing making a small crater around him.

"Motherfucker!" Lucy hears Alex yell. She watches out of the corner of her eye as Alex grunts and yells and empties her clip on the alien that still hasn't noticed them and is still very much interested in tearing Kara apart. All of their bullets are clattering around the hole that both the alien and Kara managed to make, and Lucy is afraid that this time they have to lose. But they cannot lose Kara. They can lose the battle, but not Kara. The alien can flee as long as Kara is okay and lives to fight another day, and Lucy has a feeling her thoughts are shared not only by Alex.

If there's something Lucy has learned since she started working for the DEO is the importance of their own fabulous trio. Kara cannot save the world by herself, Lucy knows this, but neither J'onn nor Alex enjoy being the face of heroism and prefer to work from the shadows. Lucy knows all this, so she makes a decision.

"Go! I got J'onn!" Lucy says, because she knows the only one that can save Kara is Alex. She knows that if she gets J'onn back on his feet, then between the three of them can save Kara. 

"If he's hurt, don't let him fight!" Alex yells back. "I can handle this bastard."

Lucy knows she can't. Hell, Lucy knows Alex knows she can't. "Alex, don't!"

"Go!" Alex starts running, but before she even gets close to the alien and Kara, or before Lucy gets close to J'onn, an explosion overwhelms them. It starts as a whiteness surrounding the hole where Kara and the alien are fighting and then pans out with a crack and a wave that sends Alex and Lucy flying backwards and landing heavily against the sand.

For a moment, all Lucy can hear is white noise. She tries to pop her eardrums but they are sore and she can't hear a thing. She stands up, swaying and a little disoriented, and walks towards Alex, stumbling.

She helps Alex up from the ground and wraps an arm around her waist. Alex tries to tell her something, but Lucy shakes her head and signals to her ears. Alex makes a face and both of them wobble towards the hole. J'onn meets them halfway, stumbling himself and looking very much human and tired. When they get closer, Lucy realizes the alien is lying prone with half its body outside the hole. Lucy sort of expects Kara to stumble out of the hole with her suit ripped and torn, but smiling a tired grin and launching herself into Alex's arms. When none of this happens and they keep getting closer to the edge, dread begins to set in the pit of Lucy's stomach because this cannot be the end. Kara did not fight tooth and nail protecting Earth and avenging her cousin for it to end like this.

Alex tears herself away from Lucy's side and runs towards the hole, falling into it. J'onn tries to stop her, but staggers. Lucy helps him up, they share a look, and Lucy is almost sure J'onn looks lost and on the verge of tears. Lucy feels like her carefully constructed new life is falling apart piece by piece and she's just not ready.

J'onn takes her hand and nods towards the hole. Lucy swallows and the bitter taste of tears burn her throat.

"Together," J'onn mouths, and Lucy nods.

The sight that greets them is too painful to stomach it. Even through the layers of white noise, Lucy can hear Alex's loud sobs and wails as she cradles Kara on her lap and sways back and forth. Lucy cannot hold it together anymore and she lets gravity take a hold of her. She collapses into the ground and stares blankly at Kara and Alex, her hand coming to circle Kara's wrist because she needs to hold onto something. Anything.

Lucy barely registers J'onn coming up behind Alex and putting a hand on her shoulder. She's more focused on the feel of Kara's skin against her hand and how unnaturally cold it seems. Her ears begin to thrum to a rhythm Lucy doesn't recognize and Lucy is afraid she's gone numb all over.

But then, she feels it.

The thrum starts in her fingertips and runs all over her body. The blood in her ears matches the cadence and she pays more attention. She holds her breath and feels it again, thrumming against her hand. Kara's pulse.

She's alive.

Kara's alive.

On reflex, she swats her arm at Alex's shoulder and dutifully ignores the murderous glance Alex sends her and yells at the top of her lungs what all of them want to hear.

"She's alive!" She can barely hear herself over the layers of white noise she's under, but she can tell Alex is reading her lips because after she says it, Alex sobers up a little.

Lucy removes her hand from Kara's wrist so Alex can tell for herself, and is relieved when Alex's face brightens and then sets into that determined frown she wears whenever it's necessary to save Kara.

"Oh my god, Kara," Lucy reads Alex's lips. She then turns towards J'onn, and Lucy watches as they have a silent, quick exchange and J'onn morphs and carefully extracts Kara out of Alex's lap. With a last look to them, J'onn takes off.

"Let's go," Alex mouths at her and Lucy nods. Together, they climb out of the hole and make their slow way back to the DEO base.

//

Lucy, Alex, and J'onn stand around Kara's sunbed with their shoulders down and tired to the bone. The beeping of the machine showing Kara's vitals is drilling a hole through her brain, but she just clenches her jaw and suffers through it. She kind of wishes she would still be under the effect of the white noise.

 

When Alex and her arrived, the agents were doing damage control and J'onn was waiting outside the medbay, pacing and looking anxious. Alex stepped up to him and asked him why he was outside.

"The doctor's checking her up. Wouldn't even let the Director in," J'onn huffed, and Lucy noticed the white noise bubble was just about to burst.

They didn't wait much and when the doctor came out of the medbay and looked surprised to see the three of them standing there, he sighed. "She's going to be okay. She just needs a lot of rest. My guess is that she caused the explosion with her heat vision, so she needs to rest a lot to make up for that kind of power draining."

Alex sighed in relief and sagged a little on her feet.

"I recommend you visit her one by one and don't overwhelm her," the doctor advised. None of them listened. The three of them walked into the room and settled against another table, huddled together, and watched carefully over Kara.

 

Lucy can feel her eyelids starting to drop and tries to fight back against it. Alex is on her right, buzzing with what Lucy thinks are her energy reserves, waiting for the moment Kara wakes up. J'onn, as far as Lucy can tell, is still awake, breathing steadily with one hand over Alex's thigh, squeezing at times. Lucy has no idea how long they've been inside this room, but she feels like she hasn't slept in two days. And she's too close to dropping asleep on the floor right there.

Thankfully, Vasquez interrupts them, knocking softly on the door she opened equally as softly. The three of them turn in unison, and Lucy has half the mind to think how comically ridiculous they must look, all tired but too stubborn to leave Kara's side.

"How is she?" Vasquez asks just above a whisper.

"She'll be fine. She needs to make up some rest first, though," Alex answers, her voice raw.

Vasquez nods and smiles a little. "Director," she directs to J'onn, "there's a Madame Prince on the line. She's looking for you."

J'onn straightens and Lucy can tell he goes stiff. "Did she state her business?"

"No, sir, she just said it was about a common acquaintance of yours."

J'onn sighs and rubs his temple. "Alright, I'll be there."

When J'onn leaves, Alex leans more heavily into her, and Lucy puts a hand on Alex's back, rubbing softly.

"You should rest," Alex says.

"So should you," Lucy counters.

Alex chuckles without humor. "As if I could sleep without knowing she's fine."

Lucy hums her agreement. And then her body betrays her and she jawns.

"Dammit," she mutters.

"Get some sleep, Lane. I'll be here."

"Alright, but when I come back you are putting your stubborn ass on a bed," Lucy threatens.

"You're one to talk."

Lucy shakes her head and walks out of the medbay, stumbles her way through the base until she finds the break room, and collapses on the couch. The last thing Lucy is aware of is the coffee stain on the ceiling of the break room and then she feels her body disconnecting.

//

They take turns on keeping Kara company.

But not just Lucy, Alex, and J'onn. Vasquez and Winn show up regularly.

When Lucy first sees Winn she almost drags him outside by the ear.

"What are you doing here?" She mutters.

"Damage control. J'onn told me the DEO needed my help and Alex vouched for me," Winn explains, trying to make himself look smaller.

"Dammit, Schott."

"How's Kara?"

"As fine as she can be on a comma," Lucy offhandedly answers because there hasn't been any progress in one day. How dare Kara not wake up and tell everybody she's alright after saving them of a possible alien take over?

"Is she gonna wake up?" Winn asks with a tiny voice.

"What?" Lucy looks at him weirdly. "Of course she is. She's just reloading her powers and all."

"Oh, okay," Winn nods along. "Have you slept?"

"Four hours."

"Go get some sleep. I'll watch over her," and Lucy is so grateful for Winn in that moment she almost regrets considering dragging him out of the DEO. She also knows it's only a matter of time before James starts showing up.

//

Day 2 of Kara's comma, Lois shows up at the DEO with J'onn trailing behind her with a very prominent scowl.

Lucy watches as Lois makes eye contact with her and cuts through all the hub of the control room to stand right in front of her.

"You weren't joking about the underground part, huh?" Are the first words that come out of Lois' mouth.

Lucy shakes her head to snap out of it. "What are you doing here, Lois?"

"I came to ask big guy over there," she signals behind her where J'onn is standing with his arms crossed, "where in the hell he hid Clark," Lois huffs.

Lucy looks back at J'onn and he finally uncrosses his arms and walks towards them. "Wait. Clark is alive?"

"Of course he's alive!" Lois starts. "What kind of question is that?"

J'onn looks at Lucy. "Diana Prince took him to Themyscira so he could heal properly. She also asked to take Kara along, but I convinced her it wasn't a great idea to separate her from Alex right now. Also, Kara just needs to rest. He needs to heal."

"I'm sorry, Diana Prince?" Lucy asks.

J'onn sighs and looks like he really doesn't want to say whatever's next. "Wonder Woman."

"Oh," Lois breathes out.

"I'm sorry, Clark is alive and Wonder Woman took him to her home so he could heal?" Lucy is truly amazed at how small the superhero society is. "Does Alex know?"

"No," J'onn huffs out. "Actually, no one but Diana and I were supposed to know, but Miss Lane here is very insistent."

"You just took him. Were you really expecting me to sit around and wait?" Lois counters and goes toe to toe with J'onn, the height difference irrelevant when Lois is protecting Clark.

"Would've been nice for a change," J'onn points out.

"Nice try, martian boy."

"Alright, Lois," Lucy intervenes because J'onn looks really close to popping a vein. "Clark is okay and he'll be back soon. Right?" She looks at J'onn.

"That depends on Diana's people, not me or him."

"Alright then," Lois says, and Lucy almost thinks she's gonna leave it there, "I want to see Kara."

"Um," Lucy doubts, but J'onn turns around and goes back to talk to Winn. "Okay, just follow me."

They walk in silence through the halls of the DEO and Lucy is tense waiting for the moment Lois will strike because Lois is never silent for a long period of time.

"So," Lois starts and Lucy thinks _there, here it comes_. "How are you holding up?"

"What?" Lucy asks on reflex, because that was literally the last thing she thought Lois would ask her.

"I'm just asking because I took it pretty rough when Clark was stabbed," she says and shrugs, as if it were no big deal.

"I'm -- I'm okay. Thank you."

"I don't believe you," Lois narrows her eyes.

"I'm fine," Lucy defends herself.

"Look, I thought I was gonna lose Clark and half my world felt like crumbling down. I can only imagine what you felt when you saw she wasn't getting up."

"Lois, just drop it," Lucy halts her walking. "Drop it."

"You gotta take it out, little sis. You cannot hold it inside because when she wakes up she's gonna need you to be there for her and you cannot be there for her with whatever it is you're holding inside," Lois points out with her usual no-nonsense tone.

Lucy breathes in and looks away. Whatever she says to Lois makes it real. Her fear, her dread, the hole she felt when Kara was lying half dead on the ground. "I don't want to lose her, Lois," she finds herself saying.

Lois surprises her once again because she steps closer and hugs her. "You're not gonna," she whispers against Lucy's temple and Lucy feels as Lois' hold tightens. "She's gonna be fine and Clark will come back and we'll go on a double date."

Lucy finds it within herself to huff at Lois' joke even though she's drowning in emotions. That was always Lois' effect. Lucy is glad, and slightly emotional, to learn that it hasn't gone away with the years.

"She's right here," Lois draws back and holds Lucy's face in between her hands. "She's right here and she's gonna wake up, smile all dopely at you and it'll be gross. You saved her. She's here."

Lucy nods. And somehow, if Lois says it, she believes it.

//

Lois doesn't stay for more than a day, for which Lucy is sort of glad because there is so much emotion she can take all at once. It almost seems like Lois is making an effort to rekindle their relationship, and Lucy is more than willing to try, but she doesn't want to get her hopes up. And anyways, that's a story for another day.

Lucy spends her days sitting beside Kara's bed and talking to her about her day, doing damage control alongside J'onn with the freaking president of the United States, and managing the little details of the new DEO building.

She also somehow has taken permanent residence on Alex Danvers' couch and spends most of her nights at Alex's place, sharing take out and a bottle of wine.

She has breakfast with Winn whenever he's at the base. She sometimes visits James and they don't do much talking, but he understands she sometimes needs a silent companion.

She always attends official business with J'onn and Vasquez.

And it all feels almost normal. Except there's one part missing. One very fundamental part. And that hole Lucy felt when she saw Alex sobbing over Kara hasn't closed.

//

Kara wakes with a jolt. Except that the only thing that tells her she's awake is the fact that the sun lamps are burning her eyes. Her hearing is out and everything is so silent, so eerily silent, she almost cries. She tries to move her fingers, but it hurts and it feels like almost an Herculean effort to do it.

She must alert someone of her freshly new waking state, because she detects movement on the corner of her eye but she's too slow to tell who it is.

Suddenly, Alex's worried face appears right above her and Kara sighs because she did it. She saved Alex and everyone else and everything is okay to her.

"Kara?" Alex asks. "How are you feeling?"

"Like a train ran me over," she croaks out because her throat is sore and dry. Alex magically produces a bottle of water with a straw and Kara eagerly takes gulps of it.

"Easy, easy," Alex rubs her chest. "You would know."

Kara falls back on the bed and sighs. Then, her mind replays the last events. The kaiju in Gotham, Clark getting stabbed, Kara fighting another one in the desert, the kaiju wanting to kill her, and then the burning heat pouring out of her eyes. And after that? Everything is blank.

"Kal-El -" she begins, but she cannot bring herself to finish. She doesn't want to know how another part of her world died and how she truly is the only one left. How she's truly and utterly alone now.

"He's alive. He's with Wonder Woman," Alex tells her, and Kara can feel a weight lifting from off her shoulders.

"Oh Rao. She showed up?"

"Apparently. We were kind of busy fighting our very own," Alex shrugs. "Lois came a few weeks ago demanding answers and J'onn told her Clark was with Wonder Woman. She took him to her island."

"He's going to be okay?" Kara asks with hope in her eyes.

Alex bobs her head from side to side. "According to Wonder Woman, yes."

Kara sighs. They fall silent for a bit, until Alex gets a hard look on her face and Kara knows something big is coming.

"Kara," Alex says, and tears build up in her eyes. "Kara, you could've died."

"You know I had to do it, Alex," Kara sighs and tries to sit up.

"No! That's not the point! You came too close to dying, Kara," Alex snaps. "Too close."

"I would've done the same for you," Kara whispers.

"It's not about that, Kara. Stronger together, remember?" Alex pleads with her.

"I was angry."

"I understand. But stronger together. Always. Kara, I cannot lose you," Alex says and lets the tears runs free.

It's just then that the magnitude of the situation dawns on Kara. She could've almost died avenging Clark and defending Earth from an alien threat. She could've almost lost Alex. Alex, who is her anchor to this world. Alex, who is the only thing that's ever made sense for Kara since she got here.

"I'm here," Kara cries and lets Alex awkwardly hug her. "I'm here. I'm not going anywhere. I love you."

"I love you, too," Alex returns in Kryptonian, muffled against Kara's chest.

//

Alex leaves the room with the promise of sending Lucy. Kara tries really hard to stay awake, but the tiredness and the fact that her powers are nowhere to be seen finally win and Kara succumbs to sleep.

When she wakes up, Lucy is silently thumbing through her phone, one of her hands resting over one of Kara's. Kara can feel it, but not as sharply as she could with her powers.

"Hey," she says.

Lucy looks up and practically almost drops her phone in her haste to get closer to Kara. Kara smiles at her antics.

"How are you?" Lucy says softly, running a hand through Kara's hair.

"Hungry."

Lucy chuckles. "I'm afraid you won't handle your usual ingest of carbs without your powers, Supergirl."

"Aw, shucks," Kara pouts. "Well, can I get a kiss, at least?"

"You're unbelievable," Lucy shakes her head, but she's smiling, and Kara considers it a win when Lucy bends her head and drops a soft, lingering kiss on Kara's lips.

"I'm so glad you're alive," Lucy whispers.

Kara draws back and catches Lucy's eyes, shining with unshed tears. "I'm sorry for scaring you like that."

"It's okay. I understand why you did it. Just try to never do it again, okay? Because Alex will have an aneurysm and I will bring you back to life just to kill you myself," Lucy looks pointedly at her.

"I know. I cannot promise I won't, but I'll try," Kara smiles.

"Damn you superheroes," Lucy says, running a finger underneath her eyes and sniffling a bit.

"You love me anyways."

"Damn right, Supergirl. Damn right," and Lucy kisses her again. 

//

Recovery is a bitch.

She is mercifully discharged from the DEO medbay, but she feels weird all over. She feels heavy and soft and _human_. She feels weird.

Winn is constantly by her side, monitoring her progress, and Alex always picks her up and takes her home. Lucy usually meets them for a movie before kissing Kara goodnight, much to Alex's disgust, and leaving. J'onn picks her up in the morning and takes her to the brand new building, with shining glass walls and bright equipment. Alex tells her it might take her weeks, maybe even a month, for her powers to come back, and that she _must not_ try to kickstart them. She says this last thing with a threatening finger thrown in Kara's direction and Kara smiles charmingly at her to get away.

James is the first one to show up at her door when she's back in her home and she opens the door for him with an apology ready on her tongue.

"Hey," he says and sits down on the couch. "How are you feeling?"

"Human," Kara grimaces.

James laughs. "That bad?"

"I cannot eat what I want."

James laughs again. "That's sad."

"Yeah," Kara starts fidgeting with her fingers. A habit she cannot seem to break around James.

"Lois told me about Clark," he starts. "When is he coming back?"

"I truly don't know. Lois is going insane. I think she's about to march into Themyscira and demand to see Clark."

"Them -- what?"

"Wonder Woman's home," Kara shakes a hand in the air. "Listen, James, I want to apologize for snapping at you. I didn't mean to. My anger got the better of me."

"Apology accepted," James smiles and holds her hand. "We can take up punching things in abandoned warehouses again, if you like. It was fun."

Kara laughs and presses her glasses against her nose. "Yeah, might be a good idea."

//

Clark and Diana show up one day out of the blue at the DEO. They use the balcony entrance Kara likes to call her own and all the DEO stops and stares. Clark is wearing his suit, but Diana has a hand on his shoulder that tells she's the one who flew them there.

Kara steps up, in her civilian clothes, and grabs Clark's shoulders, gives him a once over, and finally hugs him. Clark sighs and holds her close. Kara can tell he doesn't have his powers back up either, and she doesn't feel alone in the silence.

"Hi, Kara," he says right into her ear. His voice is deep and she can feel the vibrations in her own chest and she just smiles and burrows further into the embrace.

She steps back and drops a kiss on Clark's forehead. "Hey you. How are you feeling?"

"Like my muscles are too big," he jokes. Kara laughs and then turns to Diana.

Diana opens her arms and Kara sinks happily into Diana's arms.

"Hi," she says.

"Hello, Kara Zor-El. How's recovery?"

"Fine; still human, but fine. I think I would have my powers back if I'd joined you in Themyscira, but I can't complain."

"Tell me about it. I didn't want to leave," Clark chimes in and the three of them laugh.

Diana then gets a bright look in her eyes and smiles. "J'onn."

Kara turns and watches as J'onn joins them and accepts Diana's embrace. "Hello, Diana," he then turns at Clark and nods, "Kal-El."

Clark returns the nod and says softly, "J'onn."

"Do you think these aliens are planning an invasion?" Diana asks.

J'onn shakes his head. "They were, but I don't think they are anymore. I met them before. They are world destroyers, but they are smart enough to know when a world is protected. And you and Kara gave them a good fight," he lays a hand on Kara's shoulder and smiles.

"Me? I just finished Clark's job, honestly," Diana says modestly.

"No, I don't think so," Clark starts. "I think that between you and Kara lies Earth's Champion."

Kara smiles. She is touched by the comment, but there is no way in hell she is stronger than Diana.

"Well, I guess we'll have to fight to find out, right?" Diana winks at her, and Kara feels like dissolving into a pud right there on the floor.

"In your dreams, Wonder Woman," Kara teases her.

"Sadly yes, Kara," Diana smirks at her and damn, this is too much for Kara.

J'onn drags Diana towards his office so they can keep discussing the possibility of an invasion, and Clark and Kara stay standing there.

"Join me outside?" Kara suggests. Clark nods and follows her.

"So," she starts, "how really are you?"

Clark hums. "Sometimes the floor feels unsteady and I have a nasty scar that aches at times, but other wise pretty fine. What about you?"

Kara shrugs her shoulders. "I don't know. I miss my powers. But nothing hurts anymore."

"James told me that you wanted to help me," Clark says.

"Have you talked to him?"

"Yeah, yesterday when I told him I was coming."

"Yeah," Kara laughs humorlessly. "I wanted to save you."

"You did. If you hadn't stopped the other one I would probably be dead right now."

"Clark -"

"No, really. I mean, Diana is strong and her timing is always great, but there's so much she can handle."

Kara nods along and stares out to the skyline. And then she decides to drop a bomb. "I'm dating Lucy."

Clark remains quiet for a while and Kara is afraid to look in his direction. "Lucy as in Lucy Lane?" He finally says.

"Yup," Kara keeps it short.

"Well, General Lane is going to have a stroke when he finds out both his daughters are dating Kryptonians," Clark shrugs his shoulders and Kara laughs. Clark soon joins her and they end up doubled over laughter when Diana finds them next.

//

The moment her powers come back, she decides to pay someone a visit and offer her last apology.

"I'm going to see Cat," Kara says after dinner one night.

Lucy looks at her, then looks at her watch. "She's probably still at CatCo. Want me to drop you off?"

"Actually, I'd like to fly," Kara says and gauges Lucy's response. Lucy raises an eyebrow but doesn't press the issue.

"Alright."

"Will you be here when I come back?"

"Do you want me to be here when you come back?" Lucy counters.

"Yes, please."

"Then I'll be here."

She lands softly on Cat's balcony and waits until Cat registers her presence. She doesn't wait too long, and watches as Cat sighs, takes her glasses off, and stands up from her chair to walk outside.

"So, Supergirl lives to fight another day," Cat greets her.

"I came to apologize," Kara doesn't beat around the bush and keeps the eye contact with Cat.

Cat nods and looks away. "I see."

"I shouldn't have yelled at you like that. Shouldn't have snapped."

"Grief does very strange things to people. Both human and alien," Cat muses out loud, still not looking at Kara.

"Still, I -"

Cat lays a hand on her forearm and squeezes. "I understand. I guess I would have reacted in the same way had Carter been the one in danger."

It's Kara's turn to look away. She lowers her head and loosens her shoulders. She knows she doesn't have to carry the world all by herself, but sometimes she cannot feel anything else but responsible for it. Even when she firmly stands for her family motto.

"Kara," and Cat presses her hand against Kara's chin to lift her face. "You're the Girl of the Steel and you carry the weight of two worlds on your shoulders. I think you are entitled to be selfish, to get angry, to try to save what's left of your world."

And Cat is right. Somehow, looking into her eyes, Kara knows she understands. At a smaller scale, but she does.

"I couldn't save her, Cat. I couldn't save my aunt," and Kara's intention isn't to cry, but a sob escapes her and soon the tears follow. "I just couldn't let it happen again."

"I know, honey, I know," and then Cat does the last thing Kara expected from her: Cat hugs her. "You've given us too much without asking for anything in return. I think it's time for you to ask, Kara. Asking for your cousin to live is the minimum, I'd reckon."

"Can I stay here for a bit?" Kara asks from in between Cat's shoulderblades.

"Always."

Cat drags them inside and sits them on the couch. Kara's head instantly falls on Cat's shoulder.

"When are you planning to show up to work? Because your sister and the better Lane came here waving a very official looking legal document excusing your absence," Cat waves a hand around. "I don't particularly care about that because you're excellent at her job and you fought an alien twice your size, but the legal department started asking questions."

Kara laughs a little. "Tomorrow, bright and early."

"That's my girl."

They stay like that for a while. Cat even starts running a hand through Kara's hair and Kara starts getting sleepy. She slowly sits straighter and smiles at Cat.

"Thank you, Cat."

"Anytime, Supergirl. Just don't go around saying I have a soft side because I will make your life a living hell," Cat points at her.

Kara stands up and walks to the balcony door.

"Oh, and Kara?"

Kara turns and waits.

"Take care of Lucy."

Kara nods firmly. "Absolutely."

//

When she flies through the open window in her apartment, Lucy is watching a random movie on tv. Kara is almost certain it's _The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_ , but doesn't pay it any mind. Kara collapses on the couch, almost on top of Lucy. Lucy doesn't say anything, she just opens her arms and pats her legs. Kara drops her head on Lucy's lap and almost purrs when Lucy scratches her scalp.

"You're like a cat."

"Only with you," Kara sighs out.

Lucy continues watching the movie, but Kara lets it drone into her ears, working as a perfect background noise. She closes her eyes and she feels sleep creeping up on her. Between the tv and Lucy's heartbeat, she doesn't feel alone in the silence anymore. She doesn't feel the coldness and loneliness of the Phantom Zone. She's here, rooted to this spot, and Lucy has her back.

And, for this moment, Kara understands why her mom sent her here. Not to live the so called American Dream, but to be at peace. To find another home. To not feel lonely ever again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT TOOK ME A YEAR BUT NOW FINALLY ONLY ONE CHAPTER IS LEFT. A YEAR. OF MY LIFE. WRITING THESE TWO. i saw the rise and tragic fall of supergirl during that year, tho. anyways, hope you enjoyed it.


	6. slow show (epilogue)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaaaaaaaand that's it, folks. we've reached the very end of this monster of a fic. thank you, and i truly mean this from the bottom of my heart, to everyone who took time out from their days to read this. it truly means everything to me that you've enjoyed this and read this through the end. also, shoutout to @theragingthespian for singlehandedly building this ship from the ground up and getting me into the kara/lucy bin even tho we don't know or talk to each other. the dynamic was just so appealing from their writing that i couldn't resist. so, thanks, man c: and without further ado........ The End.

Kara is fidgeting, she realizes, and on top of that she knows she has no real reason to do so.

She's about to break down Alex's door, when Alex opens it looking like she just woke up. Which, Kara figures, is most likely at 5:24 in the morning.

"The sun isn't up yet," Alex grumbles. Kara presents her the coffee she so thoughtfully picked up from an equally grumpy barista before coming to Alex's place.

Alex takes the coffee and eyes Kara suspiciously. "You want something."

"Consider it an apology," Kara shrugs and walks inside. She goes straight to the fridge and peruses through Alex's leftovers. "Your fridge is empty."

"That and you're craving something specific," Alex tells her over the papercup. "What's got you so worked up?"

"Lucy," Kara blurts.

"Oh my god," Alex groans. "I have no interest in knowing about my little sister's sex life."

"Not like that!"

Alex stares hard at her and waits for her to continue. Kara avoids her eyes and fiddles with her glasses.

"Kara, c'mon. You woke me up for this, so it must be important," Alex presses softly, gently, as if she were afraid Kara is going to bolt out of her apartment through a hole in the wall. Kara wouldn't do that. She knows she wouldn't be at peace unless she leaves with a solution and a plan.

Kara mumbles what most resembles the truth as answer. She does it on purpose, barely above human rage of hearing and tight-lipped, enough that Alex--in her still drowsy state--cannot figure it out.

"What?" Alex shakes her head and puts the coffee down, giving Kara her whole attention.

Kara sighs, stands a little taller, and braces herself. "It's my anniversary with Lucy soon and I want to do something special."

Alex stares at her for a while and then breaks out in laughter.

"What?" Kara pouts.

"Kara, you look like you're about to ask her to marry you," Alex says, running a finger under her eyes. Then she sobers up and looks almost panicked. "You're not going to do that, are you?"

"No," Kara scoffs. "I just want to do something really special because it's our sixth month anniversary."

"Aw," Alex coos. "That's sweet. And cheesy."

Kara pokes out her tongue.

"Have you thought about anything in particular?"

"No, that's why I'm here."

"At 5 in the morning."

"Yup."

"It couldn't wait?"

"I couldn't sleep."

Alex sighs. "Alright. But we're going to bed to figure this out."

"You just want a reason to cuddle."

"Well, I am cold."

//

Lucy walks out of the bedroom while putting one of Kara's discarded shirts on. When she tries to button it all the way up, she finds at least three buttons missing, probably victims of Kara's habit of ripping her shirt open with little regard for the damage. Not that Lucy is complaining or anything, but she has stepped on several random buttons lying around Kara's apartment floor.

She doesn't get too far because soon enough Kara is attaching herself on Lucy's back and swaying them in the sunlight that streams through the windows of Kara's apartment. Kara's hands, still warm from lying under the covers, weave themselves through the shirt Lucy is wearing and settle on Lucy's hips. Kara lays her head on Lucy's shoulder and Lucy doesn't have to turn to know that Kara has her eyes closed and is merely enjoying the warmth.

"Where you going?" Kara asks, voice scratchy from sleep.

"Breakfast."

"It can wait," Kara says, her nose rubbing against Lucy's neck. Lucy shivers involuntarily and agrees with a hum. Breakfast can wait.

"Come back to bed," Kara suggests and Lucy just nods. Kara needs no further approval and lifts Lucy clean off her feet.

//

After much prodding and poking, Lucy manages to get Kara out of bed and into the kitchen. Lucy fights a losing battle against Kara's slightly broken coffee machine and huffs. That thing has never taken a liking to her.

"Can you please tell your coffee machine to work?" Lucy points menacingly towards the offending item.

Kara chuckles, drops the pancake batter, and slaps the machine. Lucy is baffled when it starts pouring coffee without trouble.

"How do you do that?"

"I'm super," Kara winks at her and flexes.

"That was awful," Lucy grimaces.

"Clark is worse."

"Is this a competition, Supergirl?" Lucy raises an eyebrow.

"Not at all, Director Lane," Kara pecks her and Lucy suddenly forgets what she was challenging Kara about.

"Oh," Kara adds, putting a pancake on Lucy's plate and three on her own. "Remember tonight we have a date."

"Yes, Kara. You've been counting down the days to it."

Kara smiles at her sweetly.

"Are you finally going to tell me where we're going?"

"Nope. It's a surprise. You'll know when the time is right."

"Oh god," Lucy gasps dramatically. "Are we having a double date with Lois and Clark?"

Lucy laughs when Kara visibly blanches at that. "No. Rao save us."

//

Kara enters the DEO building through her window and marches towards Alex, who is standing behind Winn and looking very interested in whatever it is on his screen.

"Hey," Kara steps up to her and bounces a little on the balls of her feet.

"Hey yourself," Alex smiles. "Ready for tonight?"

Kara bobs her head and smiles widely. "Absolutely."

"I took the liberty of choosing your outfit. Hope you don't mind," Alex says.

"It's rather dashing, if I say so myself," Winn quips with a terrible English accent.

"He chose the suspenders," Alex sighs. "And I hate to admit they actually look nice."

"Hey, I have good taste in clothing!" Winn defends himself.

"Yeah, for a hipster," Alex retorts. Winn sulks on his chair and Kara knows Alex just called it a win.

"Does Vasquez know what to do?" Kara asks.

"She's in position and awaiting orders," Alex nods her head. "Do you have everything?"

"Everything is set," Kara says.

"Alright. Then go get changed and enjoy your date," Alex winks and bumps her fist on Kara's arms. "Go charm your girl, sis."

//

Kara had to make Cat some favors in order to actually pull this evening off and she's not a little bit ashamed. She ran several mindless errands in record time just to please Cat's curiosity as to how fast she could fly to Metropolis and back. Kara's pretty sure she just broke Clark's record. Cat was, as expected, pleasantly surprised and agreed to give Kara access to the roof and provided everything Kara asked for. Cat even went that step further and got Kara three bottles of her favorite wine.

Kara breathes deeply, the suspenders riding a little bit upwards. Alex went for a more casual style and picked a white button up with deep red suspenders (courtesy of Winn) and navy blue pants that end around her ankles. Kara feels at ease knowing that Alex picked this for her with only her comfort in mind. With her hands in her pockets, Kara stands in the middle of the roof watching the sun set and feeling the wind blowing through her hair.

Alex thought of everything. She called Lucy's favorite Italian restaurant and made sure they delivered to CatCo even though it is out of their delivery zone. When Kara arrived she only had to make sure the food remained warm, set the table, and light the candles. Vasquez called a little after Kara was ready and told her she was on her way with the package ready. The package: Lucy.

And so, Kara waits. She waits because it doesn't make her fidgety or anxious anymore. She waits because she knows Lucy gets it, gets her. And Lucy understands her and gives Kara her space when she needs it and loves Kara deeply. Kara knows this, and it feels like such a relief to finally know. Know that she is enough, know that everything she does is enough and appreciated. Know that she's loved as a whole, as Kara Zor-El.

Kara turns slightly because she listens Lucy's heartbeat getting closer. The smile that grows on her face is completely involuntary. Kara is finally aware of the way her body and her whole self react to Lucy. The combination of the thrill she feels when she lays eyes on Lucy and the calmness she feels around her is anything but confusing. It makes perfect sense to Kara. The anticipation of seeing Lucy again and the certain easiness in which Kara can finally be herself amount for something that Kara knows is love.

The door opens and Kara's heart skips one beat because Lucy is standing there with her hair a little messy and wearing an olive green sundress that brings out her eyes beautifully and Kara is totally speechless. In both English and Kryptonian.

Lucy twirls a little in her place by the door. "Vasquez said I should wear something casual and she personally approved of this dress."

"You're beautiful," Kara says and wastes no more time in closing the distance to hold Lucy in a tight hug. Kara can feel the way Lucy practically melts in the hug and she knows, she _knows_ , she's not alone in her feelings.

Kara draws back a little, looks at Lucy right in the eye and says softly, "I love you."

Lucy smiles instantly, brightly, blindingly. "I love you."

And right there Kara knows nothing can beat this moment. Her mother might not have sent her to Earth with this in mind, but nothing beats this moment.

Kara leans down to kiss Lucy and Lucy meets her halfway. They kiss softly, reverently, almost as if they were sealing a promise, and Kara feels at the top of the world.

"I love you," Lucy repeats with her eyes closed and her forehead resting on Kara's.

"I love you, Lucy Lane."

Lucy opens her eyes and smiles. She traces her hand over the side of Kara's face and cups her cheek.

"I'm the luckiest woman alive."

"You are," Kara agrees. "And I'm the luckiest alien on this universe."

Lucy chuckles and Kara knows she wants to hear that sound for as long as she can.

They sit down at the table and Lucy admires the scenery for a moment. "So this was your big surprise."

"Are you surprised?"

"More than that I feel wooed," Lucy winks at her.

Kara laughs and lowers her head, fiddling with her glasses. "That's the point."

"Does this have anything to do with the fact that today is our sixth month anniversary?" Lucy ventures.

Kara raises her head. "Maybe?"

"You're quite the charmer, Kara Danvers."

"Well," Kara shrugs, "what can I say?"

Lucy opens the bottle of wine and Kara starts setting the food. She stops when she hears Lucy moan.

"Oh my god," Lucy says and covers her mouth with her hand.

"What?" Kara looks at her over the rim of her glasses.

"This wine is so fucking good."

Kara smiles. "Yeah, Cat picked it for me."

"Oh my god," Lucy repeats, now looking at her plate. "Is that lasagna from Guido's?"

"It definitely is," Kara smirks.

"You surely know how to treat a girl, Supergirl."

"Only the best for my beautiful girlfriend." Lucy kisses her above the the table.

They're halfway through the dinner when Kara's phone ringing interrupts them.

Kara frowns. "It's Alex."

"What's wrong?"

"She told me she wouldn't call me unless it was an emergency," Kara says and picks up the phone. "Alex? You're on speaker."

 _"Hey, guys,"_ Alex's voice rings out. _"Sorry for interrupting, but we--um--we have a situation? I wouldn't call if we didn't need you both."_

Kara sets her jaw and takes her glasses off. She looks at Lucy and she has a similar determined expression.

"Send me the coordinates, Danvers," Lucy says.

"I'm on my way," Kara says.

 _"Alright. Sorry again, guys,"_ and Alex sounds genuinely sorry.

Kara takes Lucy's chair out for her and kisses her.

Lucy pulls back first. "Go get them, Supergirl," she taps on Kara's chest where she knows the coat of arms of the house of El rests.

Kara smiles, walks towards the edge, rips open her shirt, and flies through the National City night skies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey, thanks for reading c:


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